Heart Without a Beat
by sitakazukin
Summary: Perken Part III. A test of loyalty is given to Death the Kid and Crona. Shibusen is at peace only until Noah's Ark make their move along with their newest member. Two members of the Nakatsukasa Clan became vampires. One seeks to devour the blood of Death the Kid for a reason to be yet revealed while the other is obligated to become the weapon of the girl whose parents he murdered.
1. The Disappearance of Two Souls

**The Perfectionist and The Broken Remake (Perken) Part III**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **What to be expected in this story is tragedy, humor, action, drama, romance and friendship. There will be vampires (don't worry, I'm not inspired by Twilight) and there will also be the presence of my original characters. Almost every character in the story, including Soul Eater's characters, plays an important part.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

At the end of the seven chapters of the Book of Eibon lies insanity.

Crona never thought that one day, what happened to Kid, would happen to her. She could perceive nothing. She only felt cold. She could remember how she was brought inside one of the many creations of Eibon. She laid in darkness in fetal position, cried herself to slumber as she painfully tried to forget who Death the Kid was to her. Her sanity was undesirably disappearing gradually and she felt she had no more strength left in her to fight against it. Not after when the person she trusted the most, who she thought had an unwavering loyalty, broke her already excruciating heart that at least felt ecstasy for a short time in her life. She was too weak to even talk, to call for help.

"What's the use in calling for help?" She wondered. "It's not like anyone would hear. It's not like I'll be happy to see the world again and all of the people who pretends to care for me." Even so she found herself smiling as she closed her eyes, tried to remember all that happened for the last time. She decided to hope and regret nothing anymore. She was now fully aware that she was at the state of nothingness. Her head dipped and her tears stopped from falling. "It was nice knowing you… Kid," she gently said as she fell asleep with insanity taking over her.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter I - Absence<strong>

The story starts with the blue-haired ninja who belonged to the Star Clan and grew up as someone who decides to help Death the Kid create the ultimate world that he, as a Shinigami, wants. At one dawn, weeks before what happened to Crona, the morning sunlight through the window in the only bedroom in Black Star's apartment directly fell upon Black Star's closed eyes as he was still sleeping on the bed which he used to share with Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, his weapon. Black Star's face twitched in annoyance. The heat was burning his face already. His eyes gradually opened and they sooner met the brightness of the Sun. He covered his eyes with the palm of his right hand, gritted his teeth and grunted. Then he pushed himself up with his other hand.

"Chikusho," he muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes. "Tsubaki, I just had the most wonderful dream and the Sun just happened to interrupt it like someone stealing my spotlight," he said. His vision was clear now after all that rubbing. It surprised him when he didn't hear Tsubaki respond. Usually she would wake up earlier than him and she would be around him to hear his first words in the morning.

"Tsubaki?" Black Star glanced at the empty space next to him, closed his eyes for a few seconds and he sighed deeply. "I forgot… Tsubaki's no longer here." The memory of Tsubaki saying goodbye to him flashed back to his mind. He glanced at his alarm clock on the desk next to his bed. What he saw almost made his jaw fall to the ground. The time was eight o'clock in the morning already. "Oh, shit! I'm so late!" He jumped off from his bed, grabbed a towel and quickly went to the bath room to shower. "I'd rather have been woken up by the alarm clock than by that stupid sun," he thought angrily while the water coming from the shower started rushing down on him.

* * *

><p>Crona walk passed book shelves, looking for a good book to read while waiting for Maka to finish her research on their assignment using a book. As she read every title of the books on the fourth row, one title of a book got her attention. She read the title, "Angels", and then glanced at her back to see Maka who was obviously not done yet with her business. She was curious what the book was about so she reached for it but hesitated. A familiar voice called her name that held her back from trying to grab the book. She flinched when she recognized it was Kid's voice. She slowly turned around and saw Kid. At his back was Maka on a chair. She smiled at her then continued reading the book she was holding.<p>

"Oh, h-hi, Kid…" said Crona, lowering her head a bit.

"Sorry to interrupt you," said Kid. "Were you looking for a book?"

Crona nodded. "Why?"

"Nothing… I heard you got sick yesterday after school and…" Kid cleared his throat, "… I just wanted to know how you're feeling now."

Crona glanced at her feet, trying to keep her eyes away from Kid's. "I'm okay."

"So what happened?"

"I-I guess it was because I missed taking my medicine for my wounds." Crona clutched her upper right arm.

"You forgot to take it?" Kid said in a little voice, trying not to disturb the others in the room and trying not to show his devastation. He worried especially since he's the reason for her wounds.

Crona looked up at him. She nodded once again, this time she was ashamed. "I was busy yesterday in class. I totally forgot about it."

"Didn't Ragnarok or the others tried to remind you?"

Crona shook her head. "They were busy too like me."

"Too busy to remind you, huh?"

Crona sweat dropped. "Yeah… "

Kid looked down and whispered, "I wish I was there to remind you."

Crona watched Kid looking worried. She heard him but pretended she didn't. She didn't want him to feel bad for her. "That reminds me," she said, starting to change the subject, "Kid, where were yesterday?"

Kid returned his glance to Crona. "Well, father called me for an important matter so I went to the Death Room."

"Can you tell me about it?"

"Sorry, Crona… Father instructed me not to tell anyone about it yet."

"I see."

"Don't worry. I'll tell you when it's the right time. I wouldn't keep secrets."

"O-okay." Crona smiled.

"Aren't you going to come home yet?"

"I will right after Maka's…" Kid and Crona's eyes widened as they glanced at the table behind them, finding no Maka around, "… done."

It was already sunset. Kid decided to accompany Crona to their apartment since they couldn't find Maka anymore. They were now walking down on the long stairs to the town outside the academy.

"Kid, you didn't have to come along," said Crona, glancing at Kid.

"I wouldn't let you go alone," said Kid, closing his eyes as he took each step (he already memorizes the length of each step to take on the stairs, preventing him from falling). "Who knows… you might faint somewhere here or on the streets and then maybe nobody will be compassionate enough to help you… I don't want that to happen."

Crona became speechless as she tried to imagine what Kid say then shook her head. "That would be embarrassing."

Kid smiled. "Exactly."

"Kid, do you know what an angel is?"

Kid glanced at Crona, stunned by her sudden question. "Sure. Why?"

"What is it?"

"There are two kinds of angels," Kid started to share his ideas eloquently with some hand gestures. "There's a good angel and there's a fallen angel. Of course, you probably know what the fallen angel is already. An angel usually is a messenger from God. He or she is pure and benevolent."

Crona started to get fascinated about what Kid said. "Have you ever seen one yet?"

Kid chuckled a bit. "Y-yeah... I've seen one. In fact, I see her every day."

"She?" Crona thought. "That's nice. Does she look beautiful?"

Kid nodded.

"I hope her personality is as beautiful as her appearance."

"It is." Kid smiled at Crona.

"Oh." Crona looked down, feeling a small percent of jealousy in her.

"You know… she's even beside me now."

Crona glanced at Kid then at his right side. No one was there.

"What were you looking at?" Kid said suspiciously.

"The angel beside you… I don't see her. Are angels supposed to be invisible?"

Kid sweat dropped. "Don't be silly, Crona. You're the only one's who's walking next to me. And no, angels aren't invisible but they are just spirits. _You can't see them but they can show themselves to you._"

"So…"

"You're… You're the angel, Crona."

Crona looked down. She started blushing. "S-stop joking."

"I'm serious." He dug his hands into his pants' pockets and glared down in opposite direction where Crona was looking. They were still on the stairs.

"I mustered a lot of courage and tried to have the guts to tell you that and you think I'm just kidding?" Kid thought and sighed a little. "I probably didn't sound serious enough."

"It's… so nice of you to say that, Kid, but I… I don't think I d-deserve to be called an angel."

Kid smiled once again. "You may think you deserve it or not. To me, without doubt, you are."

"I'm sorry but you're mistaking… I'm the opposite of an angel. You've seen my dark side already, didn't you?"

Kid stopped walking which made Crona stop walking as well. They were already on the streets. "Everyone has a dark side, Crona. Everyone has a few evil sides of them. I'm telling you you're an angel since you're the most humble and selfless person I know."

Crona blinked her eyes, trying to see clearly if Kid was really blushing (and he was).

Kid looked away. "Ugh, it's getting dark already," he continued, trying to change subject. "Come on." He took Crona's hand and started leading the way to her apartment.

"Could it be that… he's embarrassed?" Crona wondered. Then something caught her attention. She looked at her hand being held by Kid. She felt like she couldn't move for a few seconds. She let Kid drag her anyway. "His hand is so warm," she thought as she smiled. She looked up and realized it wasn't getting dark yet. Her smile fed away. "Kid, it's not really getting dark yet," she said. "W-what are you so worried about?

"Maka and Ragnarok's going to kill me if you're not at your apartment before 6 o'clock."

Crona can't help but smile. "Since when did you fear Ragnarok?"

"I do not. I just don't want to worsen our relationship."

"Are you planning to be friends with him then?"

Kid sighed. "No… That's impossible. I can't be friends with the one who had been torturing you when you were forced to stay in a dark room for many days."

"But, Kid… he was the only one I got."

They both stopped walking and Kid looked back. "Look, I understand that. Still, even when he was the only one you got that time except Medusa, he shouldn't have caused you more pain than you were already having."

The two were already outside Crona and Ragnarok's apartment.

"Well, I have to go now. See you tomorrow."

Crona nodded."Will you be in class tomorrow?"

Kid smiled. "Yes." He held her shoulder with one hand, moved her bangs away from where they are with the other hand and he planted a kiss on her forehead which made Crona blush.

Crona can smell the fragrance of his clothes and the addicting smell of his perfume, making her feel sleepy. She wished she could stay like that a little longer but Kid had to go. He let her go, slowly stepped back a few steps and summoned Beelzebub. Crona placed her fist on her chest and waved goodbye.


	2. Soul Eater has Vampires too!

**The Perfectionist and The Broken Remake (Perken) Part III**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thank you to the first two reviewers!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter II - Investigation<strong>

After doing a lot of research, Raven took off his eyeglasses and wiped the lenses with his white handkerchief. He's been sitting alone in front of his computer in his bedroom for almost the whole morning already without coming out, not even for breakfast that Marie Mjolnir, her mom, prepared for him and Stein. The light of his computer's monitor, an LCD, was the only thing that was emitting light to his dark room.

Raven was trying to find out why Ren, his big sister who's in Japan, have decided to join him in Death City. He watched her through his computer with the help of his only close friend and secret agent, Kazune Yuki, who's one year older than him. Raven faced down, closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. He placed his right elbow on the arm of the chair and rested his head on his palm and began to read again the paper full of significant information about the latest incident that took place in Japan. There was a vampire who attacked innocent people for the sake of devouring their blood. Sanjuro Nakatsukasa, Tsubaki's father, was one of the victims.

"Ren, what exactly are you planning to do?" Raven said in a little voice after reading the paper for the second time. Worry mixed with anger was written all over his face. He knew that her sister had become a full vampire now and had to attack people somehow, but he never expected that she would attack someone related to Tsubaki, an elite student in Death Weapon Meister Academy wherein he had been attending to as a weapon for almost one month already without a meister. He sighed. "I'm sure whatever she plans to do won't be as dangerous as what I did."

Suddenly, Kazune came to his computer's screen. "Raven, your sister's after me!" shouted Kazune. He was running for his life, panting really hard and fast. He had been following Ren and when Ren discovered him, not knowing that he is Raven's close friend, she began to chase him to do the same thing she did to Sanjuro and the others to him. Raven stood up, emotionless, looking at his friend on the computer. "Calm down," he said. "Calm down? How can I calm down when a blood-sucking creature like you is going to eat me?"

Raven can clearly hear Kazune's footsteps and the sound of the things hitting the ground as Kazune pushed them away. "I repeat, you just calm down and face my sister." Kazune gripped his phone with both of his hands and lifted it up in front of his mouth. He shouted, "There's no way in hell I can do that!" Raven's face twitched as he saw Kazune's mouth open with some of his saliva getting onto the screen.

"Seriously, say it, don't spray it, Kazune," Raven replied calmly. "Listen, tell her that you're my friend and she'll believe you."

"You're kidding me, right? That sounds so easy!"

"Well, it's worth the shot."

Kazune gave one solemn glance at Raven then he slowly stopped running and faced Ren. He started to tremble. Ren was looking really hungry and tired already. "How dare you made me chase you around like a cat!" she said. "Oh, boy, I can't believe Raven's sister can look so hot when she's angry," Kazune thought. He was forgetting that he should tell her that he's Raven's friend as soon as possible before she would lay a finger on him. They were in a secluded place where it was hard for Kazune to escape already. Kazune was too stars trucked at Ren's beauty. Ren forcibly pushed him against the wall and started to bite his neck like a hungry cheetah. Kazune closed his eyes and he grunted. The pain was almost unbearable. He quickly pushed Ren away but that didn't stop her from attacking him. His phone fell hard to the ground that made it shatter to several pieces.

The video call ended. Raven's computer screen shut down. His eyes widened at the last thing he saw, Kazune being attacked by his own sister. "Ka-Kazune!" He crumpled the paper with the information with his right hand in anger. He faced down as tears started to fall from his eyes to the cold white floor. "Damn that idiot," he muttered. "I told him what to do. If only he followed." Someone knocked on his bedroom's door. He glared at the locked door and anticipated the voice of the person outside.

"Ray-Ray, mommy's home," said Marie in a rather cheerful voice. "Come outside, I brought lunch for you." Raven sighed in relief. He though it was his father. He assumes that Stein would kill him if he found out that he was working on an investigation that is supposed to be his work… and if he found out that he is the brother of the recent mass killer in Japan, who is almost the same as him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** If Soul Eater has witches, Death Gods, ninjas, mummies, mad scientist, samurai, human turning into weapons… then I guess it wouldn't be such a surprise if it also has vampires too, right? Haha.


	3. A New Suspicious Student

_A/N: Since this is a sequel to my 2nd story, I just want to remind that Crona and Ragnarok is already separated from each other (physically) and that Ragnarok is back to his human form._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: New Student<strong>

On the late afternoon of that day, Maka and her friends decided to play basketball after their classes were done. At the usual basketball court, they all started to play already except Crona who just sat down alone on the bench and watched them. Kid wasn't around and they didn't know why.

Soul smirked after seeing their score. "Soul's team wins," Blair announced. Blair had a day off from work in Chupa Cabra's so she was able to come to their game. Soul's team consisted Soul, Ragnarok and Patty. Maka's team consisted Maka, Black Star and Liz. "I knew it!" Black Star exclaimed. "I knew Patty should have been in our team instead of Maka!" Patty giggled. She was the Most Valuable Player (MVP). Maka's face flushed in red because of anger. "Then you shouldn't have teamed up with us!" she shouted at Black Star and gave him a Maka Chop. Everyone except Maka and Black Star started laughing. "Hey! That hurt!" said Black Star, making a fist. Maka folded her arms and glared at him.

Liz sighed. "If Tsubaki was here, she'd be saying sorry to Maka for Black Star's disrespectfulness," she said. "I know, right?" said Soul. Maka and Black Star looked at them. Black Star closed his eyes and smiled. "That always annoyed me," he said. Everyone looked at him quizzically. "But why?" asked Patty. "She was just concerned for you!" Black Star turned around and sat on the bench next to Crona. "Well, it seemed like I was always a burden to her." Everyone sweat dropped except Maka. "Not just to her, really," said Maka. Black Star glared at Maka. "I know that!" he snapped. "I'd rather be a burden to all of you than to be a burden to Tsubaki."

Everyone were too dumbfounded to talk for a few seconds. They all stared at Black Star and he just kept looking away from them. He was obviously angry. "B-Black Star, is that why you let her go back to Japan when you didn't want her too?" asked Crona in a timid voice. "Ugh," Black Star uttered as his eyes widened. He faced Crona and looked into her eyes. He couldn't say something rude to someone like Crona so he just smirked and said, "That's right. I've been enough trouble to her already. Approving to her decision was the least I can do." A smile gradually formed on everyone's faces. They didn't know that Black Star can be that considerate sometimes. Even Maka started to think so too. "So that's why he didn't desperately try to stop Tsubaki," Maka said in her mind. "I thought he just didn't care for her."

"Hey, where's your boy friend, by the way?" asked Black Star. "We haven't seen him since lunch break." Crona started blushing. She knew he was talking about Kid but it was _never_ agreed that she and Kid is in a relationship. They were good friend, yet even more than friends, but Kid never asked her to be her girlfriend. "B-b-boyfriend?" she stammered. "Yep. I'm talking about Kid." Crona looked down and placed her closed hands next to each other on her lap. "He's not my boyfriend," she said in a little voice. Everyone looked at Crona astonishingly. "Aren't you and Kid hanging out together alone sometimes?" said Black Star. "W-well," said Crona. She wasn't sure what to say anymore.

"Crona, Kid once admitted to me that he has fallen for you," said Soul. Crona's eyes widened and she began to feel nervous and warm at the same time. She became more speechless than she were already. "And yet," Soul continued, "he hasn't proposed to you?" Liz looked bored at Soul. "You actually expect Kid to do that?" Soul held his upper left arm with his right hand and his left hand held his chin. He started to think. "I guess… Kid is not that much of a romantic person." Crona just kept facing down; her asymmetrical bangs covered her eyes. "Wrong," she said softly but loud enough for everyone to hear. "Kid is romantic. He… he just doesn't show it sometimes and he would prefer to act detached. But he… he has shown me his sensitive side." Liz and Patty smiled at Crona. They knew she was right since they live with Kid and have seen that side of him already.

"I sense two souls just arrived here," said Maka to Soul. "Good afternoon, everyone," said Kid. He was holding a strawberry ice cream. Everyone except him felt like they were turned to stone when they heard Kid's voice, especially Crona. "Oh, K-Kid! It's good to see you," said Liz. "We're just finished playing basketball." Maka laughed hesitantly. "Y-yeah," he said. "You missed all the fun!" The smile on Kid's face faded. "Is that so?" Liz and Maka nodded. "Hm. Well, too bad." Black star stared at the ice cream in his right hand. "Kid, I didn't know you like strawberry ice cream." Kid chuckled. "I don't. This is for Crona." Crona flinched. She raised her head and glanced at Kid. He showed her a warm smile. It was obvious that he missed her. "How thoughtful!" said Blair to Kid. The rest were just as happy as Blair because of Kid's surprise. He doesn't usually buy something for someone, especially if it's something special. Kid walked through them and stood in front of Crona.

"Here," Kid said to Crona as he handed her the ice cream. Crona looked at it then slowly took it away from his hand. "Th-thank you, Kid," she said and smiled shyly. "My pleasure," he said. "This is for being absent in class this afternoon. Sorry I wasn't there to look after you." Crona blushed and shook her head quickly. "No, you don't have to say sorry for anything," she said. Kid smiled and felt relieved that she didn't seem to be disappointed of him. Crona started to eat the ice cream. The rest started to prepare to go home, dried their sweats with their mini towels and drank water. "By the way, Kid," said Maka, "where were you this afternoon before coming here?" Kid turned around to face her. "Oh, that reminds me," he said. He walked a few meter away from them. Everyone watched him, waiting for what he was about to say.

"I almost forgot. I was helping with the enrolment papers of a new student who'll be joining our class."

"… New student…?" Maka and the others except Kid said in unison.

Kid smiled and nodded.

"But I thought teachers are the one who should work with that?" said Liz.

"Well, yes, but a problem occurred and I offered to help them. Ren, you can come out now."

Ren slowly moved away from the tree where she was hiding behind. She stood next to Kid. Everyone was flabbergasted. She almost looked the same as Kid because of her symmetrical hair and clothes. She had black hair with full bangs, lime eyes and fair skin.

"I'm pleased to meet all of Kid's friends." Ren said and bowed in front of them. "Nice to meet you too," said Maka and the others. Everyone thought she seemed nice but Maka felt a little suspicious. "She glanced at her without smiling. Ren just smiled. "I'm Ren Hiro."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I updated two chapters in one day. The 2nd chapter during early morning (about 1 a.m.) and this chapter after lunch. The 2nd chapter was harder to make. Okay, so I think I tried my best to talk about Raven in chapter 2 without revealing all about him. When I actually think about Raven, I think about L Lawliet. His hair is black and his skin is white too like L but their eyes are different. Raven's eyes are green. He is also like L because is almost a loner (since he only has one real friend, Kazune) who just wants to stay in his dark room with his computer. I know including my own original characters seem to be boring, but guess what... I thought there should be new characters who will play an important role in this story. Whoever read my 2nd fan fic story, I would like to inform that Stein Jr. is Raven Hiro in this story. Raven is also in my 1st fan fic story. His story there will still be related to his story here. More about Raven will be shown on the next chapters. Anyway, enough of Raven, I guess you, reader, don't really know where this story is going. If you're thinking it's just going to be about stupid vampires, well, you're already wrong there. ^_^ Remember that Asura, Medusa and Arachne aren't the only villains in Soul Eater. There are still villains (who you might already know if you read the manga) who will be fighting Spartoi. And that's actually the main idea here._


	4. One Heck of an Annoying Demon

_A/N: This is the longest chapter so far. I feel sorry for making chapter one so short so I hope this can make up for that disappointment. ^^_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Soul Perception<strong>

Maka watched herself on their bathroom's mirror. She just finished eating pancakes as breakfast with Soul and she was already in her usual schoolgirl outfit and a trench coat with a cloak-like end, a white blouse with a yellow sweater vest, a red plaid skirt, and black boots with white buckles. She picked up her toothbrush from the toothbrush holder. She took off the cap of their toothpaste, squeezed out the teal-colored gel. And then she started brushing. While she was brushing, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and thought about the new student who'll be in their class today. "Ren Hiro…" she started to think, "Her face looks like someone I met before. Why do I feel like there's something wrong with her?"

The bathroom door was open. Soul thought Maka didn't notice him as he came inside quietly. He was already wearing a hairband with his black (apparently leather) jacket, an orange T-shirt with the logo on his sweatband emblazoned on the left breast and a pair of light brown pants. As he came inside the room, he still left the door open and he stood behind Maka who was still closing her eyes, thinking about Ren while brushing her teeth roughly. She was troubled at the thought that their new classmate might be not as pleasant as she appears to be after all. Sure, she had a nice face and smile. But to Maka, it's like she was hiding something behind that pretty smile. Soul watched his partner's facial expression on the mirror. He didn't touch her. His eyes became sluggish at the sight of her, looking like she's deep in thought, and she was.

"Hey, how long are you going to brush those already perfect teeth of yours?" Soul asked with an intention of pissing her off again. She spat out whatever was in her mouth (crushed tooth paste with bubbles and saliva of course) and glared at Soul. "I would consider that as a compliment instead of an insult," said Maka. "You really should knock the door first before coming inside." She started gargling with water. Soul smirked. "I was planning to surprise you." Maka spat out the water and smiled. "Don't be silly, Soul. You know you can't do that since I have soul perception." Soul dug his hands into his pockets. "Yeah," he said lazily, closing his eyes and lowering his head a bit. "I forgot. No wonder you didn't freak out."

Suddenly, Maka kissed his cheek. He felt like his heart stopped for a moment, his eyes widened and he started blushing. Maka quickly looked away after kissing, feeling ashamed a bit. She didn't know what she was thinking. She just felt that Soul deserved it. He stared at her quizzically. Both of their faces were reddening. "W-what was that for?" he demanded. With the tone of his voice, it was obvious that he wasn't going to let her out of the room without answering his question. Maka looked down, closed her eyes and smiled. "That's for always being there for me." Soul became speechless. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maka seldom thanks him and she usually punished because of his rude behaviour or stupidity with her Maka Chop so this was really a surprise to him, especially because the appreciation went along with a kiss, and this was the first time that she kissed him.

There was a long moment of silence. Soul just kept looking at Maka, trying to find out what to say. "Is that you, Maka?" he finally said, though he chose the words that Maka didn't expect. The smile on Maka's face faded. She was surprised at his question. She looked up at Soul. He was a little taller and more handsome now. His face was solemn. "What do you mean? Of course it's me." Soul started chuckling. "Well, it's just that… never mind. Hey, we're going to be late for school." Maka was still clueless. She wanted to know what he was going to say but he started pushing her out of the room. "Since when did you care about being punctual?" she teased with a smirk. "How the heck should I know?" Maka frowned. She held the bathroom's door before leaving and she looked into Soul's eyes. "Tell me what you were going to say." Soul sighed. "Later, okay?" Maka nodded reluctantly. She kept looking down as Soul gently closed the door in front of her. Then he rested his back on it for a few seconds and tried to catch his breath.

Maka started to walk out of the house. Soul sighed again, this time, in relief. He can sense that Maka was gone. He couldn't see her shadow on the ground anymore. He walked towards the mirror. He gripped the edges of the sink with both of his hands and he faced down. "That was insane," he said. "That, or you're really just affected by madness again," said the Little Demon in him. Soul was shocked to hear the demon. "I thought you're already gone," he said to him. "Did you actually think that just because insanity is over and Asura's dead already, I'm already gone too?" The Little Demon chuckled. Soul grimaced and grunted a little. "Boy," the demon continued, "remember, as long as there is black blood in you, I'll always be in you." Soul kept that in mind. He placed his palm on his forehead, touching some of his bangs, and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "You really are one heck of an annoying demon," he said. "But somehow, I'm glad you're still there. Now, I know how Crona feels." He smiled then started washing hid hands. "Hmm?" uttered the demon. "I mean, like Crona, I don't know how to deal with this weird feeling now." The demon just smiled. "I thought you were going to say: like Crona, I'll be giving up to madness already." Soul smirked. "… In your dreams…."

Maka was already running on the stairs to Shibusen's entrance. She was feeling energetic. The sky was back to normal and the sun who looks like a child molestor was happly laughing, who wouldn't be happy about that if they lived in Death City? Compare to before, the world was being encompassed by darkness because of Asura's extreme madness, causing the sky to look red and making the environment unhealthy. Maka then noticed a girl ahead of her with long black hair. She quickly figured out that it was Ren. This made her feel nervous a little. She stopped running then started walking. She hadn't kept her eyes away from Ren. Ren knew Maka was behind. She looked back a little. The only thing she saw were Maka's boots. That was enough proof to her that it was Maka so she didn't try to look at her face anymore and just kept walking. She smiled though, a weird smile. She slowly stopped walking. This gave a shiver down Maka's spines. "Ugh," she uttered at the sight of Ren, wondering why she suddenly stopped. Ren just kept facing down with the same smile on her face.

Maka stood away from her for only a meter now. "Ren-san?" she started. Ren spun around. "Why, good morning, Maka-san." Maka looked down for a second. "G-good morning too." Ren cocked her head to the side in slight confusion, frowning a bit. "Is there anything wrong?" Maka quickly shook her head. "Oh." She smiled again. "Well, we're going to be late now if we don't hurry up." Maka noticed that her voice is almost as gentle as Tsubaki so somehow reminded her of her. She managed to smile back and nod in agreement. Together they continued walking towards the academy and then to the corridors. As they walked pass students, Maka can clearly hear them whispering to each other saying that Ren looks almost like Kid, that she looked like Kid's fraternal twin, and that it's really awesome that she and Maka, who are both EAT students, are together.

As they were in their classroom already, Maka sat down at the first row and she secretly watched Ren sit down. She wanted to observe her movements. Soul and Crona with Ragnarok behind them just arrived, which distracted Maka. Crona smiled when she saw Maka. Maka ran to Crona and started hugging her almost to death, making Crona breathless for a few seconds. Ren just kept staring down at them, looking emotionless. Then she glanced at her right. There was no one beside her but she saw Death the Kid who was at the next row with his demon weapons at his sides. He waved at Crona with a smile and Crona did the same thing in return but in a more timid manner after she was attacked by Maka's super hug.

Ren rested her elbows on the table, put her hands together as if she's going to pray and placed her lip on them. She smiled after remembering a plan and she planned to twist it a little.

* * *

><p><em>AN: The fact is, there are many SoulxMaka fans, and I'm one of them. ^^ Actually, SoulxMaka was my first favourite Soul Eater couple. I apologize that I haven't written about KidxCrona when I'm supposed to do so since they're the main characters in the story, again. Wait, I already did on chapter three but that wasn't enough, I know. Well, I just don't want to rush things up. :) We'll get to Kid and Crona sooner or later._


	5. The Innocent Murderer's Past

_A/N: I just decided to make chapters every night. Now here's chapter 5! :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Raven's Past<strong>

"Good morning, class," Stein said nonchalantly. "I hope you all worked on your assignment because we're going to answer it. But before we deal with that, I'd like to ask our new student to come in front and introduce herself." Ren stood up and started walking down to the front. Her classmates kept looking at her. She was wearing a cotton white long sleeves blouse and a black classic Lolita skirt with Demonia combat boots. Her hair was as usual, straight, long, black and loosed. Like her brother, she also had green eyes, but hers were lighter. Death the Kid admired her symmetrical hair and clothes.

"Kid, don't you think Ren's too symmetrical?" Liz said to Kid as they were walking in the hallways. Morning session was just over. Liz volunteered to go with Kid to the library. She needed to talk to him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come and she would have rather ate lunch with her childish sister already. "Yes," replied Kid. "Actually, she looks more symmetrical than me. She's perfect." Liz watched him quizzically. He wasn't smiling. "Is there something the matter?" Liz sweat dropped. "Uh, heh, well. Usually, when you see something perfectly symmetrical, you'd look like you've seen an angel or something like that. Your eyes would sparkle and-"

Kid stopped walking, turned around and covered Liz' mouth. This happened in an instant. Kid couldn't bear what Liz was thinking. He had an annoyed look on his face but he tried to smile anyway. "That's enough, Liz. I cannot be happy about someone being too symmetrical than me." Liz shoved his hand away. "You mean you're jealous?" Kid looked away. "Well, most likely. Anyway," he turned around and he slowly proceeded to walk, "I wouldn't want to give Crona the wrong impression if I show my admiration slash jealously towards Ren." Liz smiled at his loyalty then she started walking.

"You should be fine now," said Stein to Crona. They were in his lab and he just finished checking Crona's health. One of the instruments he used was a stethoscope. After that battle with Asura, Stein always had to check up Crona at least three times a week. Crona still had these wounds that she got from protecting Kid during the battle. She stood up with an intention of leaving already but in no rush. "You should take these." Stein handed her medicines that can help her to make her recovery faster. "T-thank you, professor," Crona replied as she accepted the medicines. She left the room, leaving Stein alone. Stein didn't watch Crona leave. Instead, he immediately sat down and continued to deal with some school paper works. Crona watched her professor one last time before closing the door. Someone tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned around and saw Marie with a smiling face.

Raven was in his bedroom's bathroom. He placed a small basin in the sink and turned on the faucet. His right hand was holding a fluffy, medium-sized, old, brown teddy bear with black eyes and a red ribbon around its neck. It was something he got from a person whose parents were killed by him during a cold winter night. He was a thirteen-year-old vampire that time and he grievously needed blood to survive. He could have taken in those tablets that can be eaten by vampires instead of human blood but that time, he was being consumed by madness which drove him crazy. He hungered for the taste of human blood. He wandered in the forest like some kind of wild animal until he arrived on a highway where there was a single van being driven by the parent of the girl who owned the teddy bear.

Next thing he knew, he was in the van, covered in blood that obviously didn't belong to him. Two dead adult were in front of him, one man and woman. Madness left him as he got what he wanted but he developed resentment with himself. He watched his trebling bloody hands then his eyes started to shed tears because of guilt. He quickly opened the car's door and ran away as far as possible. After a week, he uninvitedly went to the burial of the two people he killed. He was wearing a black hoodie, trying hard not to show his face to everyone and he was somewhere in the middle of the crowd. He felt like his heart was stabbed when he saw a beautiful girl who turned out to be the only child of the deceased parents (who are rich), kneeling at the edge of their graves and crying silently.

When all the people were already gone, Raven stood in front of the graves of the girl's parents. He said sorry to them in a little voice but the words echoed as strong wind passed him that almost made him fall to the ground. When he was about to fall to the ground, he noticed a teddy bear. He guessed that it belonged to the girl and she might have accidentally left it. When he lifted it up, he stared at it for a few seconds. It somehow gave him Goosebumps. He suddenly thought about what will happen to the girl now that she had no parents. It seemed like when he touched the bear, it reminded him of her. And the same thing still happens to him. He considered it as a curse, and maybe it was. Even though he wants to dispose it, something pulls him back from doing it.

He rarely holds or glances at the bear that's usually resting on the top of his bookshelf in his room. This time, he finally decided to hold it. He had been depressed since yesterday when he concluded that Kazune's dead already. He wasn't sure if he was already, but since he hasn't called him, texted him or anything that can give a signal that he's still alive, he finally thought that he's probably dead already, his one and only true friend. Raven closed the faucet when the basin was already full of water and as he was finished reminiscing his dreadful past. He looked at the bear.

"Why did you have to do this to me?" he said to the bear and gritted his teeth. He was trembling a little. "He was my only friend!" He closed his eyes and drowned the bear in the basin. His breathing became rapid. He watched the bear getting soaked in clear water and he gradually started to feel dizzy. He took off his eye glasses and rubbed his forehead. "Now you know how it feels…" said a small voice. It sent chills down his spine. His eyes widened when he saw the water in the basin was turning into blood. "What the-?" he uttered. He wasn't able to finish his sentence when he felt something throbbing in his chest. His heart ached. He winced and grunted in pain. He held his chest with one hand as he slowly fell to the ground. Sweat fell down his face. "W-what's happening to me?" he asked himself in his mind. He felt like he was going to die already. He never experienced such pain before.

Suddenly someone knocked on his bedroom's door. The pain surprising left him. He started breathing normally. His mind was full of questions. But he knew he'll have a hard time finding the answers. He pulled his self together, picked up and wore his eye glasses and stared at the bear in the basin. The water was back to normal. "Could it be…? I was only hallucinating?" he asked himself again. He shook his head, trying to convince himself that he wasn't. He clearly saw it. And surely, he wasn't being controlled by madness. "Darn, this bear…" he said in a little voice. He glared at the wet teddy bear, looking back at him, as if trying to look into his soul.

"Junior, are you in there?" Marie called then she continued banging on the door. Crona was just standing next to her. Raven sweat dropped when he heard Marie called him his old nickname. "I told her not to call me that name anymore," Raven said. He was obviously pissed off by the sound of his voice. Apparently, his new name is Stein Junior but he keeps on insisting that they should just call him by his original name which is simply Raven.

* * *

><p><em>AN: If you're wondering what Ren outfit looks likes, search: cotton white long sleeves blouse and a black classic Lolita skirt and Demonia combat boots on google images. I went out of town today and when I came back, it was already evening. I washed my laundry right away and after that I placed my old teddy bear in the washing machine (too lazy to wash it by my own hands). As I watched it getting drowned and twisted in the water, I tried to imagine that blood was going to come out. But that didn't actually happen. I guess now you know where I got the reference. Just from my stupid imagination, really. But it actually helped. Because I was planning that Raven should be cursed and my teddy bear gave me the idea. So, do you think it was just a hallucination? To be honest, I, myself don't know. LOL. But I'll decide sooner or later. If it wasn't a hallucination then that would be creepy. I even almost scared myself. I might not sleep well later. Haha. Well, I hope chapter 5 wasn't too disturbing._


	6. A Replacement for Stein Junior

_A/N: I was wrong that chapter 4 being the longest chapter. We can clearly see that this chapter is the longest one so far. This chapter was kind of a part 2 to the previous chapter about Raven's past._

_Disclaimer: I don't own soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Stolen Shot<strong>

In the living room of Stein's house, Marie placed down a silver tray with two cups of hot chocolate milk on it on their center table then she sat beside Crona who was watching a photo album. It was already evening and it was raining hard outside so Crona was asked to stay until the rain calms down since she brought no umbrella with her.

"Here, Crona," said Marie as she handed one cup of milk to Crona then she took one from the tray for herself. Crona put down the photo album and nervously held the cup. She started the drinking the milk. "Is it delicious?" Crona couldn't deny that it was indeed delicious, she couldn't even stop drinking for a few seconds to reply 'yes' to her so she just nodded shyly. Marie giggled. "I'm glad you like it. But be careful now, it's still a bit hot, you might burn your tongue." She started drinking her cup of milk.

Crona looked at what she was drinking then stopped drinking it which surprised Marie. "What's wrong?" asked Marie and pouted a little. Crona put down the cup and tried to think what to say. "Uhm, Marie-sensei, thank you for the milk and… thank you for letting me browse your photo album." The feeling of worry left Marie and she smiled. "You're welcome, Crona," she said.

"I-I was wondering…" Crona said as she opened the photo album and went to the page where there was a picture of a boy who almost looked like her new classmate, Ren, sleeping in an open black coffin. She showed the picture to Marie. "I was wondering who this guy is." Marie stared at the picture then laughed. "That's Raven Hiro, our adopted son." Crona's eyes widened. Even though she was shocked, she tried to calm her voice. "Adopted son?" Marie nodded firmly. "I thought you already know him, Crona." Crona shook her head.

Marie stood up with her cup on her hand and her other hand held her elbow. She looked at the window, watched the rain fell down. "I can still remember clearly…" Marie started, "that night was like this night." Crona looked up at her and waited for more of what she was going to say. "It was one very rainy evening like this… it happened not so long ago, just last month. Stein came rushing in with an unconscious boy in his hands. Both of them were soaked. The boy was covered in blood even though he wasn't wounded. Stein found out that the blood wasn't his. He opened his mouth and we saw four sharp fangs like Soul." Marie closed her eyes and faced down.

Crona was obviously confused already. "B-but I thought vampires don't exist." Marie glanced at Crona and smiled. "We thought so too." She took a sip of her chocolate milk then she put down the cup on the center table and sat beside Crona again. The photo album was still on Crona's lap. Marie looked at the photo of Raven sleeping again. "That's a stolen shot of him. I guess it amuses you that he doesn't sleep like a normal person. He prefers to sleep in a coffin so we bought him one. He's a vampire after all." Crona glanced at Marie. "Doesn't he try to… hurt you and professor?" Marie replied no. "Stein gave him tablets that can prevent him from doing that. It's something that can be considered as a replacement for human blood. Stein made it for him and it works. Since he started living with us, he never tried to hurt anyone. But he's always in his dark room like Stein."

Crona nodded as a sign of understanding of what Marie was said. "Marie-sensei, doesn't he hate this picture?" she asked. Marie laughed hesitantly. "Well, he does, but I told him to not ruin it because he really looks cute when he's sleeping." Crona studied the photo again and she can see that Marie isn't lying. "I have one last question." Marie smiled. "Go on." Crona pointed a name that was at the bottom of the picture. "Why is Stein Jr.'s name here?"

The smile on Marie's face faded. The memory of the death of her first child (who was created by Stein) came back to her mind. She remembered Stein Jr. poisoned himself in his room. He died silently. Too hurt by the memory of the past to talk, she managed to reply somehow. "I believe that Raven is given to us as a replacement for Junior. Stein believed with me. He couldn't say that nothing can replace Junior since he wasn't being nice." Crona faced down and said, "I bet Medusa-sama would say the same thing to me when I'm the one who died, not her."

Marie glanced at Crona and felt guilty for what she said. "Crona, I'm sorry. I don't mean to give you the idea." Crona shook her head and smiled. "No, it's okay. I know I've been bad and what you said just made me guess what would happen if I did die." Marie still felt inconvenient. "Crona, don't get the wrong idea. Even though Junior didn't become the kid that we wanted him to be, he _was_ a good kid. But it didn't last for long since his father neglected him. I tried to give him affection but he only wanted Stein's love. Still, I loved him… I loved him so much, so much that I even gave his name to Raven just so I can still feel like he's still alive and lives in Raven."

Crona frowned when she saw Marie was already shedding some tears. She took her light blue handkerchief out of her small white back pack with a chibi keychain of Death the Kid hanging on one of the zippers. She gave the handkerchief to Marie. "Thank you, Crona," said Marie with a smile as she wiped her tears. She was wearing her usual black dress with a large, golden, zig-zag pattern in the front from the waist down while Crona was wearing a purple sleeveless hoodie with a style of Shinigami's mask on the left side (where the heart is), a black thin sweater underneath it, a mini gray pleated skirt, black stockings and a classic black and white high top converse all star shoes.

Later, somebody suddenly shouted "He was my only friend!" Marie and Crona's head quickly turned to the direction where the voice came from. "That was Raven!" said Marie to Crona without looking at her. She and Crona stood up and ran towards Raven's room upstairs. Marie started knocking on the door. "Junior, are you in there?" she called and she received no respond. She continued banging on the door.

Crona just kept holding her upper right arm, sensing a dark aura which made her feel a little scared. "This was Stein Jr.'s room, wasn't it?" Marie glanced at Crona. She wasn't sure if what she said was a good thing or a bad thing. She sweat dropped and said, "It was." Finally, the door knob turned and the door slowly and slightly opened. Marie and Crona saw half of Raven's body.

Raven's dark green eyes just looked bored and met Crona's powdered blue eyes which made Crona shiver a little. Raven was wearing a plain white T-shirt. Since he closed the door to his bathroom where there was a switched on light on the ceiling, his bedroom became completely dim even though he can switch on some lights. He didn't want anyone to see what was in his room like his coffin, voo doo dolls, blood tablets, the teddy bear, his research papers, etc. especially when he didn't trust the person. He turned his gaze to Marie.

"What do you want, mom?" he said. There was bitterness in his tone.

"We heard you shout so we came rushing here to see if you're okay," Marie explained.

Raven sighed. "I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me."

Marie smiled. "Thank goodness. But what was that shouting all about?"

Raven finally went out and closed his room while Marie was talking. He folded his arms and rested against the wall. His eyes widened a little when he heard his mom's question. "I…" Raven looked down the floor and tried to think of something, "I was just practicing a script."

Marie cocked her head to the left. "But you haven't come to school for almost a week now. Was that script given to you a long time ago?"

Raven glared at Marie. "You ask too much, mom. It's just something I got from the internet." He looked away, somehow embarrassed at what he said. (Why would he do something like that anyway?)

"Okay then. I'm sorry. Mommy's just worried about you!" Marie started hugging him tightly making him almost breathless. Crona just sweat dropped.

Raven grimaced. "Don't. Hug. Me." He tried to push himself away from Marie. He wasn't used to physical contact like Crona or Stein. Marie finally let Raven go. She didn't mind that Raven don't like hugs. She was still happy that she was able to hug him. For her, it's cute to give hugs to a person who seems to hate them. Raven stood firm and breathed deeply for a few seconds. Then he gave Crona an intimidating glance. "Who the heck is this girl?"

Crona became more nervous. "I'm C-c-Crona," she said. "Great," he said, sounding sarcastic. "Nice meeting you, Crona. You probably know me already seeing that you were with my mom and she's obviously talkative." Marie felt like she turned into a stone after hearing what Raven said. "Well, I'm going to my room now." He stopped folding his hands and turned the knob of his bedroom's door. He looked back at Marie with one eye, his bangs covering his other eye. "By the way, don't call me Junior," he said coldly, went inside his room and shut the door gently.

"Is he always like this?" Crona asked like a little child.

"Apparently, yes. Sorry for that, Crona. He's just not the friendly type." Crona and Marie started to walk towards downstairs.

"He somehow reminds me of Stein Junior," Crona thought, her eyes half-lidded.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Now we know how Raven ended up in the Patchwork Lab (a.k.a. Stein's house). But have you wondered why he was covered in blood when Stein found him? Well, I think it's obvious already so maybe I shouldn't explain that part already. Haha. It's fun to think of Crona being in other clothes aside from that black robe of hers, don't you think? Picking up the design of clothes can be hard too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really into fashion. I just want to change Crona's clothes. Thank you for reading even though it was pretty long. I just feel the need of telling details. ^^_


	7. Black Star, the Loyal Partner

_A/N: I was writing this while listening to "Baby Blue Eyes" by A Rocket to the Moon. I suggest you listen to that song while reading the first part of this chapter. ^_^_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: Partners<strong>

Part 1

Death the Kid was still half awake but his eyes were closed and the room was getting cold. He moved closer to the love of his life and he pulled the thick blanket up on them. The blanket was wide enough for two people. Kid started embracing Crona. His gentle breath touched her forehead, which tickled her a little.

Crona listened to Kid's gently heart beats and she enjoyed the warmth that his body was emitting. She held his sleeves and nuzzled on his chest. Kid rested his chin on her head and he savoured the sweet smell of her lavender hair. The two of them were in his room in Gallows Mansion.

Ragnarok and Soul were going to sleep at Black Star's apartment that night so Crona had to be alone if she stayed in their apartment. Kid didn't want that so he called her and told her that she can stay with him that night.

Crona opened her eyes. "Kid?" she whispered to Kid without looking at him. "Are you still awake?" Kid didn't bother opening his eyes; he was still enjoying the smell of her hair and he was already sleepy.

"What is it?" he gently whispered back as he started stroking her silky hair.

"Do you love me?" Her face was pale and it was being enlightened by the moon's light coming from one of the windows in the room.

Kid opened his eyes in slight shock. He lowered his head a bit to look at her. His right hand held her left shoulder while his left hand held her right hand. "Of course I love you, Crona." He kissed her forehead which made her close her eyes for a few seconds and she breathed slowly.

Crona never gets tired of hearing those three words from him. She thought that the way he said them sounded too real to be true. But they were real and true indeed. She had to convince herself now that reality is finally better than dreams.

"I love you too, Kid," she said as she smiled and her eyes started to water. He makes her smile like no one else, not even Maka or Marie.

Part 2

Black Star lied down on his large bed with Soul and Ragnarok who were sleeping already. He placed his hands on his pillow and he rested his head on his palms. He stared at the ceiling for a while and tried to think about something that happened earlier that day.

-Hours ago-

During lunch break, Ren was getting a coca cola from the vending machine in a hallway in Shibusen. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to know how to deal with the machine and needed help. Black Star just happened to pass by and he saw her.

"Hi, Ren-san. Looks like you're having trouble. You want help from a god?" Black Star said and grinned. Ren just chuckled at his question but she accepted his offer anyway. "Sure," she said and smiled at him. She knew this was her chance to talk to him for the first time about something important to her.

A few minutes later, the two were already walking in the hallways and Ren got the coca cola she wanted thanks to Black Star. "Black Star-kun, you don't have a weapon, do you?" she asked.

Black Star glanced at her without facing her and wondered why she knew that. "I used to have one. I'm planning to get a new one if my partner doesn't come back anymore. But it really doesn't matter for now. I know she'll come back."

Ren looked at the ground. "I see. Well, you're probably wondering why I asked. Some of our classmates told me that your partner was my cousin."

Black Star knew that Ren was Tsubaki's cousin since Kid told him and the others. He laughed. "That's right. So what are you trying to tell me?"

"So it's true," she said, held her chin and continued looking at the floor while walking _as if_ she didn't know. "I just want you to know that if you need a new partner, I'll be here for you."

Black Star was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that his partner's cousin would try to replace her. He scratched his head with one hand and said, "Sorry, Ren, but I don't think I'll need a new partner. But don't worry. I'll think about it!"

Ren smiled. "I'm glad you will," she said. They both stopped walking. "Well, I have to go now. I still have to deal with an extracurricular lesson. Once again, thank you for the coke."

"Yeah. That was nothing. See ya later!"

They started to walk in different paths.

-Back to present-

Black Star stared at the stars outside his window. It made him remember of one night when he and Tsubaki were alone together outside, watching the stars. He remembered saying to her, "If Black Star is the dark night _sky_, then _Tsubaki_ is the shining stars."

He smiled at the memory and said in his mind, "No one can replace you, Tsubaki. But I hope you'll forgive me if I'll use your cousin as a temporary weapon. I know you know that a meister cannot survive without a weapon."

Part 3

The sky was full of thunder and lightning already. Ren opened the door to their house and walked in the dark hallways. Her lime eyes changed to red for night vision. Water from her body and clothes were dripping on the floor. Gopher blocked her way and glared at her.

"What time is it, missy?" said Gopher.

"Were you waiting for me to come home just to ask me what time it is?" Ren said and she closed her eyes. She had a smile on her face despite that she was really wet and cold already. "Sheesh, Gopher."

"It's not like that and you know what I mean! Noah's been worried about you."

Ren opened one eye to look at Gopher's face. He was obviously pissed off since Noah cared for Ren more than him. She turned away from him and started walking towards their kitchen. "You're just jealous, Gopher."

"Hey, come back here! Don't expect me to clean up this mess of yours!" (Referring to the water puddles on the floor formed by the water droplets from Ren's body and clothes.)

Ren was already in the kitchen so she didn't hear Gopher anymore. Gopher grunted and cursed, "Damn that girl! Someday, she'll pay."

Ever since Ren was taken in to Noah's house, Gopher seemed to be insignificant to his master. In fact, he always felt like he was, even during the time that they still held Death the Kid captive. But it was worse now.

In the kitchen, Ren sat down on a chair. The house was more of a mansion and it's not just a typical mansion. It even has it own dungeons where Kid was once locked up. Noah came into kitchen and started drying Ren's hair. He was considered to be Ren's father now and Gopher was like her annoying big brother.

"You really should have brought an umbrella," said Noah as he was drying Ren's hair with a towel. Ren was just sitting on a chair.

"I'm already used to getting soaked in the rain, father. So there's really no need of bringing an umbrella. Besides, bringing one makes me uncomfortable and I'm a vampire anyway."

"You have a point but still, your clothes get wet."

"I'll let Gopher wash them."

"Ren, Gopher's not your maid."

Ren sweat dropped. "I know that. It's just fun to mess with that guy. He gets easily annoyed."

"I noticed you're smiling a lot right now. Did something happen?"

"I just did what you told me."

Noah patted Ren's head. "Good girl." He gave the towel to her. "You can now dry the rest by yourself." He looked at his device that can show him where Gopher is. "As a prize for doing what I told you to do, you can get your hands on Gopher for the blood you need. He's in his bedroom."

Ren shook her head as she dried her arm. "I'm not going to devour that whimp's blood. Never. I'd rather have yours."

"Don't be stubborn, Ren. You need blood to survive."

"I know. But the only blood I want is from the person I admire."

Noah stared at her quizzically. "And who would that be?"

Ren smiled. "Death the Kid."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I'm not really sure what to say now. ^^ But, let's see, we're getting close to the middle part of the story. What Black Star said to Tsubaki in the past and Kid being in the dungeon was really in the Soul Eater manga. (I can show you the pages for proof.) If you read the manga then I bet you know Noah and Gopher. Ren happens to end up teaming up with those two. Actually, three, if I include Giriko.  
><em>


	8. Licorice and Raven's Agreement

_A/N:I recently read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and rewatched Soul Eater, but this time in Tagalog version. That was just to refresh my memory and I needed some information. I did say I was going to update every night but my computer was down for a few days so… yeah, this story was on hiatus. Sorry for that. Chabeli05, I'm really glad that you read and review every chapter. ^^ And oh, your theory of what will happen in the story is almost right. It surprised me. It's like you read my mind. Hehe. Thanks to you!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: Compensation<strong>

"You can't run away," whispered an eerie voice. Raven couldn't tell whose voice it was. He kept turning around, trying to find something other than darkness. He couldn't see anything even though his dark green eyes were wide open. Every thing that encompassed him was just pure blackness. The only sounds he could hear was the mysterious voice, his own voice, and the sound of splashing of liquid each time he took a step. He wondered what was on the ground so he looked down but still, he could see nothing but he knew something was there, he just couldn't see it. He could smell the thing he needed to devour to survive and it was abundantly around him. The smell brought him to insanity even more.

"You can't run away," said the voice again, this time it was louder.

"Who-who are you?" Raven shouted and continued turning around, hoping to see the entity that was threatening him.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is that you should get what you deserve."

Raven grunted in confusion. "That wasn't what I was asking and I don't know what you're talking about. Do you mind explaining before saying anything gibberish?"

The voice chuckled. "You know exactly what I'm talking about so why should I still explain to you? Don't be such a fool. Were you brainwashed or did you have amnesia?"

Raven glared and stopped turning around. He was beginning to understand what the voice was talking about. "Using science to insult me sounds more like crap. I might know what you're trying to say, but it isn't clear yet."

"I guess you know now. Just let me remind you before you face damnation. Innocent blood of people was spilled because of you. And you can't run away now from the consequence of what you recklessly did."

"How did you know?" He could tell that the entity was smirking.

"I know almost everything about you and your life, Raven. I've always been watching you ever since you picked me up."

"Ever since… I picked you up? Are you the-?"

Before Raven could finish his sentence, he felt the ground shaking. He stepped backwards a lot of times, trying to get away from the epicenter. He tried hard not to fall on the ground. His head bumped onto a wall. He never expected that there were walls so he was walking backwards with great effort and eventually the wall cracked as he accidentally pushed his back against it. He held the wall without facing it. He could tell that it was concrete and he felt some liquid again, it almost felt like it was the same kind of liquid that was on the floor. To prove to himself, he slowly faced the wall to smell the liquid but suddenly under the epicenter of the earthquake, a scarlet light was beginning to grow big. It was even visible through the ground. It was bright enough to light the room where Raven was. It prevented him from what he was about to do. Raven couldn't believe what he saw. He was in a small dark room full of blood on the ground. He smirked but he began to tremble in both fear and pleasure. Ambivalence and insanity was taking over him.

"I bet, to you, this is wonderful… to see this great amount of blood that you can selfishly take now or never."

The ground was still shaking. Raven tried to fight against the madness in him. He held his forehead and closed his eyes forcefully. Then he opened one eye to see what the liquid on the wall was. His hand was still on his forehead. His eyes widened at the sight of blood on the wall too. He quickly moved away from the wall but he stared at it for a little while.

"Honestly, I'm not sure if I should be happy about this or not."

"If I were you, I wouldn't be too happy. Because all that blood belongs to the people I killed."

"Ugh," Raven uttered. He wasn't aware of the possibility that the blood around him came from the people he killed. He was planning to drink almost all of them but guilt began to replace his feeling of hunger. He closed his eyes once again, faced down and made a fist. "Why… why did you have to tell me? Why do you have to remind me of the past that I've been trying to forget?"

"I already told you, you can't run away."

The ground cracked and a hole was forming. Soon a large whole was formed. Raven couldn't do anything but watch. He knew where this was going. He finally calmed down. Red and orange flames were being relinquished from the hole and the blood from the small room began to fall down into the hole. He put his hands into his pockets and slowly walked towards the hole. His body was full of sweat already. The flames reflected on his eyes as he opened them and said, "I accept my fate."

"Like if you have any other choice," the voice teased.

"Hell is where I belong. I was just given a chance to live longer even after what I did. I was given a chance to have the family that I didn't have."

Licorice' purple eyes widened. She was dumbfounded at what Raven said. She's the one who had been threatening him. "Raven, wait!"

Raven tried to ignore the annoying mysterious voice which belonged to Licorice. He closed his eyes and slowly fell to the hole with the flames which leads to hell. He felt some part of his body on the lower region was being burned already. Licorice quickly jumped on the ground, ran to the hole and grabbed Raven's wrist. Raven glanced back at Licorice in shock. They stared at each others' eyes for a few seconds. He figured out that the mysterious voice was hers.

"Who's this girl?" Raven thought as he stared at Licorice. "Let me go."

"Not yet," Licorice said sharply. Her bangs covered her eyes. She pulled him even though Raven tried to unclench her hand from his wrist. Then Raven fainted because of the heat and smoke.

The sun was in the sky already. Raven's eyes opened. Birds were chirping outside his room already. He didn't like birds. "Damn it, I forgot to close the window again," he said as he slapped his forehead. He still looked tired even though he just had eight hours of sleep. He slowly opened his coffin, sat up and tried to remember his terrifying dream then he yawned. "That was the worst… dream… ever…" he quietly said to himself.

"My, my… It's so early in the morning and you're already cursing. I didn't know you hate birds. Anyway, that wasn't just some ordinary dream," said Licorice. She was sitting on the floor, next to Raven's coffin, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little to the sides as if she's disappointed. Raven glanced at her with no surprise. She has dark brown hair. She was wearing a petite white stretch long sleeved fitted shirt, a red thin ribbon tied around the collar, a black vest with black buttons on it, and black shorts. She glared at him like a child while hugging her legs that had long white thigh high socks. She wore no footwear at all.

Raven just looked at her with lazy eyes. He wasn't in the mood to react too much to any situation. He still felt sleepy. "What are you, some kind of lost waiter? Would you want me to show you to Deathstaurant or Deathbucks?"

Licorice just glared at him even more. She stood up and punched him back to his bed. "Using my appearance to insult me sounds more like crap," she said as she turned around and folded her arms.

Raven realized she said something that he once said to her in his dream. He pushed himself up from his bed despite of his aching chest (where Licorice hit him). "Huh. You're not only a lost waiter, but you're also an amateur boxer and trespasser. Your punch was nothing compared to my mom's punch."

(A/N: By mom, he means his real mom who's also a vampire.)

Licorice tried to calm herself even though she was already full of anger. "Hey, I don't intend to kill you now. And I'm not a trespasser!" She faced to Raven. "You've been keeping me inside in this freaking room since the day of the burial of my masters' parents!"

Raven's eyes widened as he quickly realized who this person was. He recognized the ribbon on her neck. He didn't realize it a while ago since he wasn't yet fully wake. "Uresai!" he commanded her as he jumped from his coffin to Licorice' side, covered her mouth and glared at her. Licorice slapped his hand away from her mouth.

"Raven, is there someone else in your room?" said Marie as she knocked on the door. "I can clearly hear a girl's voice. Don't tell me you brought someone to the house without asking permission."

Licorice and Raven sweat dropped. "Your mom's jumping to conclusions," she whispered to Raven.

Raven glanced at Licorice. "She's not my real mom."

"Raven?" said Marie and continued knocking on the door.

Raven glanced at the door and said, "I'm doing morning practice, mom. From hearing your reaction to what I was doing, I can say that I am already improving since you don't even recognize that it was my new voice that I've been practicing the past days."

"What a pathetic excuse from a pathetic person," said Licorice who was facing down, sounding bored.

"Well, okay then. Keep up the good work, son!" Marie pretended to be ignorant. "Something's fishy," she said as she faced down. She was holding some clothes she dried outside the house. Stein called her so she temporarily forgot about what Raven was doing. She started to walk in the hallway to Stein's lab.

"Whaaaaaat?" said Licorice, her mouth gaped after hearing what Marie said. She expected that she would say something more or scold Raven after seeing her. But Marie didn't even open Raven's door to see if there was really another person in the room. Raven just sighed in relief since he thought his plan worked. He then stood up. "You can't really expect Marie to be so smart," he said.

"Or maybe you're her son, so she would just believe you." Licorice pouted and glared up at him.

Raven sighed. "And you call me pathetic," he said as he looked away from her with lazy eyes. "I already told you she's not my mom."

"I know that." Licorice stared at the floor again while still hugging her legs. "I've been here for almost two months already; of course I already know that. But I don't know about what happened to you in your life before the burial."

"Well, that's good then, 'cause it's pretty annoying when people know about my life," Raven said as he folded his hands. Licorice started to look like an angry bull now. "Anyway, you're the teddy bear who had been haunting me, right?"

"Uh. Y-yeah." Anger slowly left Licorice, slightly shocked that Raven quickly changed the topic. This made her feel weak a little. "I guess he really doesn't want to talk about his life… I wonder why," she thought.

"So what's your purpose in turning into a human? And how the heck did you become a human anyway?"

"Hey, don't ask too much like that. We still got a lot of time."

"As a matter of fact, we don't," Raven said. "I have to go to school later."

"But I thought you don't go to school anymore."

"I've been busy so I didn't feel like going to school and besides… I don't like the sun." Raven's eyes narrowed.

"You really are a vampire," Licorice looked away, "a vampire who killed the parents of my master."

"Can you answer my questions now? I don't have all day."

"Fine." She faced to him. "I was in your dream, remember?" Raven nodded. "It was real that you were going to face damnation already."

"Yeah but you had to pick me up. What were you thinking? You should have let me go if you hate me so much."

"I changed my mind right after you said something… something that made me think that you're not as bad as I thought." Licorice faced down again.

"Isn't it enough for you to conclude that I'm evil when you found out I killed the parents of your master?"

Licorice opened one eye to look up at him. "Do you want that?"

"Not like I want it, I deserve it."

Licorice smiled then slowly stood up. "See, you're not as bad as I thought. But still, I don't trust you." She cast a sharp glance at him. "I'm the one responsible of what your life will be now. I hold your fate."

"Wha-?" Raven glanced at her quizzically.

"I'm Licorice. My purpose in life is to guard my master. I was a soul that was placed in a teddy bear. I died at a young age but I begged the creator to give me a chance to live in this beautiful world but with a condition. I had to stay in a lifeless thing until time comes that I have to go out of it. If anyone harms my master, I'll surely kill them. You may not have hurt her physically, but emotionally, you did. And tomorrow she'll probably kill herself because of you. I'm supposed to bring you to hell then I'll save my master from suicide. But I had another idea… you'll be the one to save her." She pointed at him with a smirk.

"Again, wha-?"

Licorice sighed. "You did something terrible. And you have to pay it. Actually, you should be sent straight to hell already but… I decided to give you another chance."

"So you're saying… You can see the future… and I'll pay what I did by saving your master?"

"Exactly."

Raven laughed. "You're out of your mind. Did you really think this through? If your master finds out that I'm a vampire, I mean, the vampire who killed her parents, she'll surely kill me whatever it takes."

"Then don't let her know that you killed them. Protect her with all your might, strength and soul. And the important thing is…" Licorice stood next to Raven and whispered in his ear, "Don't fall in love with her."

Licorice slowly went back to the bear in a purple light, leaving Raven in great astonishment. "Protect Scarlet Vander? How… would I ever do it?" he asked himself while walking in the hallway in the Patchwork Lab. "I don't even know how I can face her again." He suddenly realized something. He faced down and smiled. "This is not enough compensation. To live for the safety of someone whose parents you killed won't be the same as to die and go to hell because of the sins you did. I rather died after all. Licorice, you fool. But I guess I can play along for while."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Licorice is obviously another OC of mine. Yes, she is the bear that belongs to Scarlet. Yes, Raven was going to hell already but Licorice stopped him (even though she was the one who was bringing him there in the first place). And yes, Raven and Scarlet shall meet sooner or later. ^^_


	9. Stein, the Undeserving Father

_A/N: Another short chapter. ^^ And a new one will probably be added later or tomorrow._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Melancholy<strong>

Crona watched the rain fall outside the window as she waited for Kid. She was sitting on a chair in Deathbucks. She placed her lower left arm horizontally, lower right arm vertically on the table and she rested her head on her right palm. "I wonder why it suddenly rained," she thought as rain drops fell on the glass of the window. It was already afternoon. Classes are over at Shibusen so Kid decided to hang out with Crona for a while and have a snack. He also wanted to talk to her so he thought this was the good time.

Kid came back to the table, holding a tray of food and drinks with both hands. Crona quickly sat properly and smiled back at Kid. She helped him place the food and drinks on the table. Their hands accidentally touched each other as they both held the last cup that was on the tray. They glanced at each other for a few seconds and smiled hesitantly.

"Sorry," Crona said. She moved her hand away then she placed her hands on her lap and looked down.

Kid shook his head. "No," he said. "I should be the one to say sorry. Sorry for making you wait. It was hard to decide there."

Crona just looked at Kid and giggled a little. "I guess I should have come with you," she said.

"But your feet hurt, don't they?" said Kid as he sat down on the chair across the table, in font of Crona. "I wanted you to sit here and rest for a while."

Crona smiled at his concern face and his gentle voice. "I'm actually okay now, so don't you worry too much, okay?"

"Sure." Kid tried to smile back even though he still felt worried. He knew Crona and the others ran for four laps on running track outside the school during their PE while he practiced shot put with his weapons. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Kid…," Crona thought as she watched Kid's sad face. It made her frown. "I'm probably just a burden to him."

"Anyway," Kid said as he opened his eyes, "all that work during PE today really worn us out." He started to slice his chocolate cake with a small knife. "But since I'm a reaper, I'm not as exhausted as others. So it's kind of unfair, isn't it?"

"I guess so. Is that what's making you sad, Kid?"

"Well, that's one of the reasons. Sometimes it's better to be normal." Using his fork, he pierced the sliced piece of cake and stared at it. "It's just that… I don't want to see you suffer anymore."

Crona bit her lip. She didn't thought he cared for her that much. No, she thought _no one_ cared for her that much. "Kid, you don't have to…"

Before Crona could finish what she wanted to stay, Kid raised the fork with the piece of cake in front of her, a sign that she should eat it. Shocked Crona just stared at the cake for a few seconds and ate it shyly.

"She really is submissive as always," Kid thought as he smiled. To him, feeding Crona is like feeding the cute white kitten he used to have when he was little especially now that Crona was wearing a white sweater. "Also, it hurts to see you sad," he said while Crona was still munching the food inside her closed mouth, "so let's forget about our worries for now, shall we?"

Crona swallowed her food and smiled. "Y-yeah."

At Partchwork's Lab, Stein sat on the living room couch and drank tea. Marie opened the front door and came in. She was holding a brown paper bag full of stuff she brought in the grocery.

Stein stopped drinking. "Welcome back," he said nonchalantly. Then he continued to drink.

Marie placed her things on the table, smiled and kissed Stein on the check which made Stein's eyes widened. "How was your day?" she asked then sat beside him.

"Nothing much," replied Stein. "We just dissected another endangered species, that's all."

Marie sweat dropped. "I see… By the way, isn't Raven home yet?"

"He was a few hours ago."

"He didn't finish all his classes again?"

Stein nodded. "He said he'll go to somewhere to save someone's life."

"What?" Marie exclaimed. "That's so unusual of him. I mean, he doesn't even like to go outside his room, now he decides to go hero?"

"I know. He's probably changing. Let him be, Marie."

"You might be right. So where's that 'somewhere'."

"He didn't tell me. He was in a hurry."

"And you just let him go without knowing where he was heading to?"

"Yes," Stein simply said then drank tea again.

"Stein, why did you do that? You should have at least asked where he was going."

"I already did but he didn't tell me. I tried three times. Still, he didn't tell me. He just got some food from the fridge and rushed towards the front door. I held his wrist to stop him. But he struggled away and escaped. Don't worry. He brought an umbrella and a teddy bear."

Marie stared at Stein quizzically. "A teddy bear? I didn't know he's still interested on that thing that was always on the top his shelf."

"How could I know?" he calmly said as he lit a cigarette.

Marie grabbed the cigarette away from him, crushed it and glared at him. "The question is… how can you be so calm when your son ran away?"

"Marie, we both know that he is not my son, neither yours. And he didn't run away." Marie's tears started to fall down her face. "I already told you, he was going to save someone. Isn't that what Shibusen students do? Protect people and eliminate evil?"

Marie faced down and sobbed. She hated that Stein was right about Raven being not their son, so they should give him more freedom. But Marie treated Raven as if he was her own son, and it just torn her inside that it seemed like he ran away and won't come back. "You just don't care for him like how you didn't care for Junior," she said sharply, stood up and ran to their bedroom.

Stein was left alone in the living room. Instead of being mad, he felt guilt in him. He sat on the couch for a while. The light reflected on his glasses and his bangs covered his eyes. He sighed. "Marie's right," he thought. "I don't deserve to be called a father."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I just finished drawing Soul with Maka before making this chapter. Yesterday, we had our Christmas Party at school. It was a lot of fun. My friend kept calling me Medusa since I kind of dressed like her. Haha. Anyway, here's chapter 9. I'll probably add chapter 10 later. I'm also planning to draw Kid and Crona at Deathbucks, Kid feeding Crona (that was in this chapter). Haha. And if I do, I'll put it in my deviantArt and you might want to check it out. Recently, I've been addicted to this song - Style by Kana Nishino. :3_


	10. Amy, an Admirer of the Murderer

_A/N: I was out of town for 1 and a half day so I wasn't able to make chapter 10 earlier._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: Sadomasochism<strong>

Dusk came. Raven hopped out of the shuttle bus and opened his black umbrella since it was raining. He started to walk on the sidewalk. He was already in the city of Isfahan, Iran where he first met the daughter of the couple he killed a long time ago. Licorice had been guiding the way.

People kept looking at Raven and he didn't know why. He just ignored them. He kept in mind his mission, his mission to save someone from committing suicide. He wasn't sure where to go, or where this suicidal girl will be, but Licorice gave him a clue.

-Flashback-

In the airplane that was on the way to Isfahan City, Raven was sitting beside Licorice who just kept looking at the window.

Licorice kept watching the window next to her. "Hey, Raven, I wonder…" she started.

Raven raised an eyebrow and said, "What?"

"Why are airplane windows so small?"

Raven rested his left elbow on the arm of the chair and rested his head on his palm. He looked lazily at Licorice. "I thought you're already old enough to know the reason."

Licorice turned to Raven and glared at him. "Well, what do you expect from a girl who died on her first birthday, who came back to life and grew up in a teddy bear?" she said in a little voice so no one, except Raven, can hear her. She placed her index finger on her cheek and looked up. "Now that I mention it, I forgot how I was able to live just by staying in that bear."

_Raven just stared at her.__An arrow of pity shot through_his heart. Then he looked away. "The size and shape of the windows can weaken the fuselage structure," he said, as an answer to her question. "By decreasing the surface area of the window, aircraft designers decrease the possibility of rupturing a window and losing cabin pressure."

"I see," Licorice said as she nodded in understanding. She continued to watch the window. There were a few moments of silence.

"So where is she going to do _it_?" Raven asked all of the sudden to Licorice. And by 'it' he meant suicide. He was referring to Scarlet.

Licorice didn't face Raven. She just looked at her hand that was on the right arm of the chair without facing down. "I think it will be somewhere near the water."

Raven glared at her. "You think? I thought you should be sure since you can…"

Licorice covered his mouth and shushed him. "Don't be careless, Raven," she whispered to him. She couldn't let other people in the plane hear Raven saying that she somehow has the ability to see the future.

Raven moved her hand away from his mouth. "Fine," he said and folded his arms. "So somewhere near the water, huh. Why don't you just tell me _exactly_where she is?"

"I'll just show you the way once we get there."

Raven sighed. He didn't really want to go along with this 'mission' but he had to since he still wanted to live, considering the fact that Licorice holds his fate now. He still wanted to see Kazune, if ever possible that he was still alive, even though he tried to convince himself that he already passed away without being sure. Satisfied by Licorice' answer; he looked up at the ceiling then closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep.

-Back to present-

The rain stopped. Raven turned to the right to an alley where Licorice can transform into her human form. He closed his umbrella placed it with his backpack on the ground. He knelt down, took the bear out of his bag and threw it behind him. Purple light came out of the bear and it transformed into Licorice. She landed on the ground, stood firm, caught the bear, hugged it and smiled at Raven.

Raven's face twitched at the sight of Licorice. "What's with the entrance?" he asked her lazily.

Licorice just laughed hesitantly. "It just feels good to be a human again."

Raven turned back to pick up his things. "It's been only a few hours and you already missed being a human?"

Licorice folded her arms and closed her eyes. She was still holding the bear. "Well, of course." She opened her eyes, faced down and smiled. "I never thought becoming a human again would feel so good. I used to think it's better to be inside a bear… that way, I wouldn't feel the same pain I felt when I got killed."

Raven paused. What Licorice said reminded him of himself when he was young, when he _almost_ got killed by the vampire who was after him when he ran away from their house where these was an ambush. But that vampire only got to bite him on his neck that turned Raven into a half-blooded vampire instead of killing him. Raven was lucky to escape.

The memory flashed into his mind for a few seconds. He shook his head and raised his left palm to his left side, at the same level of his shoulder. "Give me the bear," he told Licorice. She tossed him the bear and he caught it in his hand. He placed it back into his red back pack. He wore his bag, picked up his black umbrella and stood up.

"I can't believe you still remember how it felt like when you died," said Raven.

Licorice closed her eyes and held the back of her head with her right hand. "I find it unbelievable too."

"Come on, we don't have all day."

"Why do you always say that?"

"I only said it twice to you."

Licorice sweat dropped. "I guess that's right."

"Please bring this." Raven gave her the umbrella.

"Why?" she said as she held the umbrella. "Are you allergic to umbrellas or something?"

"No. I'm not used to bringing one so it's kind of uncomfortable."

"Oh, okay then."

They started to walk out of the alley.

Scarlet looked up at the sky that had blue, orange and yellow colors with a few clouds. The laughing sun was about to set already. She had been sitting alone on the stairs at the one side of Khaju Bridge, the finest bridge in Isfahan City, watching both the sky and the river. She kept hugging her legs, getting nervous at what she will do to herself.

Scarlet has red-orange hair. That's probably why her name is Scarlet. Her hazel eyes shimmered as she looked at the sparkling water. She was as pale as Raven. That day, she wasn't wearing any Iranian clothes of hers. Instead she wore a khaki cotton trench coat and Dr Martens white boots. She wasn't actually pure Iranian. She had an American blood because of her father.

"Mom and dad, I'm sorry, but I want to do it… I don't want to live anymore without you guys. I want to see you two already," she thought melancholically.

People passing by behind her kept looking at her but she doesn't notice since she doesn't face them. They wonder why she's being alone. Raven and Licorice finally arrived to the bridge. They started to look all over the place together. There were only a few people around and others didn't stay for long since it was getting dark already.

"Are you sure she's here?" asked Raven.

"Of course I am," replied Licorice, annoyed at Raven's skepticism.

They continued to look for her. Yellow lights on the bridge were already turned on. Raven ran pass a few walls. This time, he and Licorice split up to make the work easier. (Why didn't they think of that earlier?) His eyes widened when he realized he noticed a red-haired girl down the stairs near the river shore. Her hair looked redder since it was getting dim. He stepped back and stood for a moment to make sure if it was really _her_.

One woman came down the stairs, stood next to Scarlet, held her knees, and lowered her upper body to see Scarlet's face. "Sweetie, it's getting dark already," she said.

Raven hid behind the wall. He folded his arms, rested his back and left foot on the wall behind him. He knew eavesdropping was rude, but he need to do it anyway, even though it was hard to hear them because of the distance.

Scarlet looked up at the stranger then looked at the water again. "I know," she said, sounding apathetic. "Please leave me alone. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." She didn't want anyone to witness her killing herself.

The woman was stunned at Scarlet's behavior. Scarlet wasn't being nice nor was she being rude. She just looked emotionless. She glared at her. But she smiled and her anger faded away for a moment after thinking of a new plan. She figured out she couldn't do anything to help this girl. But she wasn't actually there to help Scarlet. No, she was there to end her hatred. But she did want to put up a façade.

She wanted to show her that she will help her. She knew Scarlet was already on the verge of losing herself, that she'd try to do something wrong to herself. She was a psychologist after all. She knows a person who's about to do a suicide when she sees one. She couldn't live to see another day, knowing that the daughter of the deceased couple she hated was still alive.

She hated Scarlet's father for fooling her, for marrying Scarlet's mother instead of her. She wanted revenge. The death of the couple wasn't enough revenge since she wasn't the one who killed them. Even so, she was thankful to the killer whose identity she didn't know. And she was unaware that he was just a few meters behind her, watching them.

"I am not going to hurt you, little girl," lied the woman. She said little even when Scartlet was fourteen years old already. "I'm here to help you."

Scarlet looked up at her once again. "Help me with what?"

"I know you, Scarlet," she said with a smile. "I know your father. We were even good friends. I was so sad when I found out he died. I know how you feel." She sat next to Scarlet.

"No." Scarlet faced down. "No, you don't. So please, go away."

"You want to see your parents, don't you?"

The question made Scarlet flinch. It's as if she stopped breathing for a few seconds. She slowly turned her face to the woman. "H-how did you know that?"

"I'm a psychologist." There was pride in her voice.

"Is that so? Do you also know what I want to do right now?"

The woman smiled again. "I have an idea about it."

"I repeat, ma'am. Please leave me alone. That way, you can help me."

The woman frowned. She now had no choice but to go with Plan B. She lost her patience already. She smirked when she realized it was so quiet around them, giving her a signal that she was alone with Scarlet. "You really are a stubborn girl like your mother," she said as she took out the handcuffs from her purse.

The sound of the handcuffs made Scarlet twitch and made her blood go high. She already had the urge to run away. She started to stand up but the woman pulled her back down and locked the handcuffs on her wrists. Scarlet was too scared to scream now, her eyes widening and some sweat was falling down her face.

The woman put masking tape on her mouth and wrapped torn clothing around her lower face. It was all happening in an instant. Scarlet kicked the woman's face and started to escape but that she just gave the woman another reason to kill her. She grabbed her ankles that made her fall to the ground.

"That does it," said Raven as he gritted his teeth in anger when he and Licorice heard the loud thud when Scarlet fell to the ground. Licorice was too mad now to talk. The two of them were in the dark, behind a wall. Licorice fixed her tight black gloves while Raven started a partial weapon transformation. His hand turned into a machine that had revolving disc-shaped razor blades.

Scarlet was facing the ground now. She winced as she tried hard to pull herself up. The woman sat next to her, gripped enough few strands of her red hair and lifted her head.

"Revenge," she whispered with an evil smile on her face.

Scarlet just looked into the woman's eyes. Pain was written all over her face. It was too much that she couldn't even think about reasons why this woman was making her suffer or even think about on how defending herself. Her body trembled as it weakened. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Don't move, dear, this will only hurt for a second," said the sadistic woman as she pointed a normal pistol on her chest, near her heart.

Scarlet closed her eyes. "I guess I won't be doing the suicide anymore," she thought and calmed herself. "Mom, dad, I'll finally see you." She smiled.

The woman raised an eyebrow, obviously confused why Scarlet was smiling now. "She seems to enjoy this," she thought. She smirked even more, considering what Scarlet was doing a motivation to her.

Licorice just stayed behind the wall, crossing her arms, mad at Raven for not letting her come with him because "it's too dangerous" and because "they haven't practiced as weapon and meister" yet.

Just about when the woman started to pull the trigger, a disc-shaped razor blade hit her wrist and cut her hand. The gun fell to the ground and the woman cried in pain. She couldn't believe her eyes, she almost fainted. She could see a lot of blood was coming out of her lower arm and she trembled even more when she saw her hand with the gun on the ground.

Licorice eye's widened at what Raven did when she took a peek. She turned around and let her back slip on the wall downwards to the ground, sighing in relief. "I'm glad he insisted that I'd stay back," she said as she closed her eyes. "I didn't know he could do something so disturbing in an instant. Raven, please save master."

Raven looked down on the woman. Scarlet was back to facing the ground after the woman let go of her hair. She was too exhausted too rise and see what's happening around her. But she knew the woman was in trouble already and that she won't be killed anymore. She felt she lost hope of seeing her parents instead of rejoicing that someone came to save her. She tried hard to look to her side to see the river. She thought it was her only hope now.

"You two are rather disgusting," said Raven as he started walking down on the stairs with a solemn expression and he faced down. His other hand was in his pocket while his other was a Ripper (his weapon form). "But it's rare to see a sadist getting along with a masochist. I should put this on my journal." The woman just glared up at him and started screaming hysterically.

"You damn four-eyed boy," the woman said. Even though she was angry, her voice was shaking in fear. She grabbed the pistol and quickly shot Raven but Raven had good reflexes like Death the Kid. He held up his right arm that transformed into a weapon and made it a shield.

The bullet hit it but didn't damage it at all. Raven slowly raised his head and smirked like a sadistic person which sent shiver down the woman's spine. Raven took off his eyes glasses. "You old hag, these glasses are only for style to me."

The woman grunted and shoot him with the gun even more but Raven just ran towards her, trying to dodge from the attacks. Licorice placed her head on her ears as she heard the gun shots.

Raven was too busy with the woman, he didn't notice Scarlet was near the river already. He took the gun away from the woman's hand and started beating her up with his other hand. The woman was too weak to fight back already. Licorice stopped hiding and saw that Raven was putting the Ripper near the woman's neck already with a crazy grin on his face.

"Madness," Licorice gasped as she watched Raven. Then she noticed her master. She thought what Raven was doing was too much already. "Raven!" she shouted at Raven and pointed at Scarlet who was drowning in the water now.

Raven looked at Licorice then glanced at the river. His eyes widened. "What the heck?" he said as he let go of the woman. She fell to the ground and didn't try to stand up anymore. Raven ran towards the river, took of his shoes and started swimming in speed. He changed back his right arm to normal. Licorice ran towards the woman to check if she was still alive and she was, barely.

"I know… I'm going… to die here… but at least tell me… who that boy is," said the woman in between coughs.

Licorice felt a strange feeling of pity coming to her as she looked down at the miserable woman. "This woman's right," she thought. "From the looks of Raven beating her up, there's no way she'll live longer now. She lowered her upper body and held her knees to come closer to the woman.

"He's the killer you have been admiring," she said as she smiled down at the woman.

The woman was dumbfounded. And then she smiled back. Slowly her eyes closed and she died. The smile on Licorice faded. She stood up straight and watched Raven.

-Flashback-

Back behind the wall, Licorice asked, "Raven, do you know that woman?"

"Yeah. She has great hatred on Scarlet's dad. And she's been admiring me for killing him with her wife." Raven smirked. "Weird, huh?"

Licorice punched Raven on the chest for the second time now. "How did you know that? You're a stalker, aren't you?"

Raven glared at her. "Researcher, not stalker," he managed to speak even when his chest still ached. "There's a difference."

-Back to present-

Licorice picked up Raven's glasses and strong wind passed her.

Raven swam deeper in the water and finally saw Scarlet's face using his night vision, his eyes went red. Scarlet's eyes slowly opened in the water and saw Raven's red eyes. Then she fainted and bigger bubbles started to come out of her mouth. Raven took her hand, held her shoulder then quickly swam up towards the surface of the water. He brought her back to the shore with Licorice.

"Master!" Licorice exclaimed as she ran towards the two. She helped Raven carry Scarlet. They let her rest on the ground. "Raven, you know what to do!"

Raven glared at Licorice. Water was still dripping from his hair, clothes, etc. "Don't even think about it."

"For Pete's sake, I'm not going to be lesbian, okay? You do it!"

"Be a lesbian for once! There's no way in hell that I'll—"

His words were cut when Licorice hit the back of his head with her palm that made his face fall to Scarlet's face. He had no choice but to do CPR now since his lips are already on hers.

Licorice just kept laughing. Then the cops arrived. Her laughter faded and Scarlet was finally half awake now and the first thing she saw was Raven's relieved face.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Scarlet Vander is my 1st original character. The word Scarlet is Persian so I decided that she live in Iran, specifically in Isfahan City because Khaju Bridge is there._

_I've been playing Unreal Tournament and I like this gun called The Ripper/Razorjack (not my favorite though). That gave me the idea for Raven's weapon._

_Again, I apologize for including my original characters in this story. So far, this is the longest and the hardest chapter I made. I sometimes prefer to use simple English to make the story less confusing. Hope that helps._


	11. Symmetry to Death the Kid

_A/N: Back to updating every night. ^^ I really wish I can finish this story before December ends. There's still more chapters to come._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11: Relief<strong>

Crona suddenly remembered something. She dropped her fork on the plate and looked at the Shinigami in front of her. Kid stopped eating and glanced back at Crona.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Kid, we're going to have exams on Friday, right?" Crona said. She wanted to be sure. And she expected that Kid should know the answer to her question.

"Well, I probably wasn't around when that was announced since that sounds new to me."

Crona shook her head. "Professor Stein didn't announce it yet but Maka told me that she was requested to pass this announcement since Professor Stein was too busy with something."

Kid was glad that Crona doesn't stammer a lot now. And that's just one of her improvements since she was brought back to Shibusen. He smiled at her. "If Maka said it, then it might be true. She's the top student after all. Why would she lie about something so serious?"

"Oh. I guess she wouldn't." Crona faced down and thought for a second. "Kid, I believe you have the potential to be the top student of our class."

Kid chuckled. "That's what they say too," he said. "Actually, father even said that I don't need to go to school anymore since my knowledge is already advanced. But that's just father." He faced down and continued eating.

"Have you been studying when you were young?" There was silence for a few seconds.

"Crona, I'd like you to know that I really look up to my father ever since I was young," Kid started talking without looking at Crona but he stopped eating. "And I knew I was going to take his place someday so I decided to self study in our library. I wanted to learn all I needed to learn to be able to become a worthy Shinigami that I have to be. I guess you can say I was too excited since I initiated my study at an early age."

Crona smiled, feeling proud of Kid. But when she feels this way, she asks herself who she was to be proud of a Shinigami. Replying herself, saying she's a witch who shouldn't be in Death City, especially with the son of Lord Death. She quickly pushed her thoughts away and faced Kid. She knew Kid would start to worry about her again if she shows her sadness. "Was symmetry a part of your study?"

The question made Kid smile. "I have always studied about laws and justice. And symmetry is just another word for justice. Still their meaning isn't exactly the same. I have fallen in love with symmetry. I've been considering it an art, a beauty, a way to justice."

Crona nodded in agreement. Just by being with him, it's like she burrowed his eyes and finally saw the beauty of symmetry. Finally, she wasn't freaked out by his obsession anymore. She knew Kid was a prodigy. She always loved it when Kid tells her stories. He would tell her about history, science, mythology and other interesting things. For a naïve girl like her, she felt lucky to have someone who can tell her more about life and a lot of things she didn't know, things that Medusa didn't care to tell her about. But did she deserve to feel lucky? She kept asking herself. Every time she finds happiness with Kid, guilt always comes to her. But to Kid, teaching Crona was like teaching a six-year-old girl but he enjoyed every second of it as he sees that Crona appreciated what he does.

"Crona, how about if we go to Professor Stein's house now to make sure if there's really going to be an exam on Friday?" Kid suggested.

"Sure," Crona said and smiled.

"Come on," Kid said as stood up. He was just finished arranging the plates on the table symmetrically. Crona took one last sip of her mango shake, let her hand be taken by Kid and together they went out of the store, both getting amazed at the colorful Chritmas lights outside.

"I suppose this is your first Christmas," Kid faced to Crona.

"Yeah," Crona replied, without looking at Kid. She just kept staring at the lights. Kid continued to watch them with her.

They were on the sidewalk already and people passing by kept looking at them, especially those who never seen Kid with Crona before. Almost all of the people in Death City knew Crona was the daughter of the evil witch Medusa. But lucky for Crona, Lord Death told everyone that she wasn't like her mother. "Kid…" she said as she gently held his sleeve to get his attention while looking back at the people looking at them.

Kid glanced again at Crona then tried to see what she was looking at, the people. He slightly glared at the people. "Don't mind them, Crona." He gave her a reassuring smile. "They won't hurt you, especially when you're with me."

Crona's frown faded as she looked at Kid's soft yellow eyes then she got lost into them as she was fascinated by their different shades of yellow. Kid held her wrist that brought her back to reality from her reverie, reminding their next destination. They started walking towards Patchwork's Lab at the outskirt of town.

"Okay, we'll be there," said Stein then he put down the telephone. He just received the second phone call from the police headquarters in Isfahan City. They told him about what Raven did. Some part of him was proud that he saved a girl, and the rest he felt like he wanted to dissect him for killing the woman who tried to kill the girl. He thought Raven should have atleast let the woman live. He turned around and saw Marie looking worried. He was surprised that she was out their room already.

"Who was that?" said Marie.

"Some policemen," replied Stein. "They found Raven."

Marie's eyes, which still had some tears, widened then she held Stein's coat. "Where is he?"

"Calm down, Marie, he's okay. He's in Isfahan City. He just saved a girl. See? I told you. He was just on a mission."

Marie did calm down. She faced down and she stopped holding Stein's coat. "Can we go there?"

Stein was dumbfounded. He looked at Marie (who was still looking down) for a while, thinking of her request. He planned to wait for Raven to come home but he decided to go to Isfahan City with Marie.

"If that's what makes you happy…" he said. Marie started to look up at him. Stein smiled. "Then let's go."

Marie didn't expect him to agree. She studied her face then she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck (A.K.A. hugged him), pushing her head on his chest, very thankful that he is willing to make up for being rude a while ago. Stein was one of the people who wasn't used to physical contact but this time, he let himself hug Marie back, closing his eyes with a gentle smile on his face. Four knocks on their front door ruined their moment. Stein and Marie break off from each other as they heard them.

"I'll get it," he said to Marie then he went to the front door. He could sense Death the Kid's soul. "Why on earth would Kid come at this time?" he asked himself in his mind before opening the door. He unlocked the door and slowly opened it. He saw Kid dressed in his black leather jacket and Crona in her white sweater. Both were wearing jeans. It was near Christmas after all. So it was really cold outside, even in the morning.

"Good evening, Professor Stein," said Kid and Crona in unison.

"Likewise," replied Stein. "What brings you two here?"

"We just wanted to ask you if it's true that we'll have exams on Friday."

"Didn't Maka tell you? You should believe her since she's your friend."

Kid and Crona laughed hesitantly.

"We wanted to make sure," Crona defended Kid.

"I see," said Stein. "Well, yes, it's true. Sorry for not announcing it myself. I was busy with some research."

"We understand that, Professor," said Kid. Thank you. That's all we needed to know."

"Oh? Aren't you going to ask the coverage of the exam?"

"Won't it be all about what we learned last semester?"

"It will be," Stein said as he and Crona smiled at Kid, both glad that Kid already knows.

"We'll be leaving now, good bye," said Kid as he placed a hand on Crona's shoulder and started to turn around. Crona waved at Kid

"Wait, Crona!" said Marie as she popped out of the door.

Crona and Kid turned around to face the couple. Crona smiled at Marie. "M-Marie-sensei!" she said.

"Wouldn't you two like to come inside for a while?" Marie asked.

Crona and Kid shook their heads and said no.

"No, thanks, sensei," said Kid. "We'll be studying at our house."

"We will?" Crona asked Kid and faced him.

"Of course," replied Kid as he smiled.

"That's good then!" said Marie. "Good luck, you two. I hope you pass the test."

Crona and Kid said thanks in unison to Marie then they started to walk away from the house.

"Kid," called Stein. Kid and Crona looked back. "Please tell your classmates that I and Marie won't be around tomorrow."

They both looked confused but they just nodded, didn't ask any more questions and continued to walk away from the house.

* * *

><p><em>AN: It's obvious why Stein and Marie won't be around tomorrow, right? Anyway, thanks to CrazyAnime3 for the review. ^^ As usual, gonna update tomorrow._


	12. What Wasn't Part of the Plan

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12: Offer<strong>

Scarlet watched the proverbial sunrise coming up over the mountains far away from their mansion. She never thought that she'd be back to the place where she grew up. She remembered clearly what happened yesterday and couldn't believe she was still alive. She held the glass of the window, faced down and thought about the glowing red eyes she saw when she was already drowning in the water.

"That boy," Scarlet said in a little voice, referring to Raven, "why did he look familiar?" The sound of policemen talking and sirens of their cars resonated in her mind. The image of Raven beside her, looking down on her with water falling down on his face and hair came to her mind again. Before that, she felt his lips on her so she no longer doubted that he did perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her. She wasn't sure if she should thank him or get mad at him for doing it. After all, she didn't want to be saved. But somehow she felt relieved that she was.

Right after she woke up from the emergency procedure that Raven _reluctantly_ performed on her, she fainted again because she lost a lot of her energy during her struggle with the vengeful woman whom she didn't know. The second time she woke up, she found herself on her white canopy bed in her spacious light blue room that is mostly full of books and antique collections.

Later she heard some reverberating footsteps outside her room. She quickly turned around and walked towards the door. She placed her ear next to the old wooden door and held the gold-colored door knob. She and Raven who was outside the room gently turned the knob simultaneously. Raven was holding a tray with Scarlet's breakfast on it. He flinched when he felt that he wasn't the only one turning the knob. He let go of it and it slowly opened. He and Scarlet glanced at each other, unblinking. Then Scarlet finally took two steps backwards, eyes still locked on Raven. She started to feel nervous as she realized Raven was the boy from yesterday. She glanced down on the tray of food and saw a piece of paper on it. "For Scarlet" was written on it. She couldn't tell whose penmanship it was.

Raven sighed slightly, getting tired of the silence between them and the tray he was holding. "Good morning," he said nonchalantly to Scarlet as he faced down. The tension Scarlet was feeling finally eased. She honestly forgot how to initiate a conversation already. Ever since her parents died, she no longer talked much like she used to. She looked up at Raven. He was one inch taller. "G-good morning too," she replied shyly. "Are you the boy who saved me?" Raven's eyes widened. "That's right," he said. It came out quiet. It was almost a whisper.

Scarlet smiled then gently took the tray away from him. "I can see you've endured a lot in bringing this here," she said, turned around and placed it on her study table. Raven just stared at her and thought, "Oh, you finally realized how hard it is to bring this tray from the kitchen on the first floor to your bedroom here in the third floor."

"Please come inside and take a seat," Scarlet said, without looking at Raven as she placed down the food and cup of milk on her table. "I need to talk with you." Raven hesitated. He never expected that this would happen. The daughter of the parents he killed was being nice to him. The feeling of guilt in him grew healthier each time he saw her kind smile and heard her meek voice. Even though it was still morning and she probably just woke up, her face was already blooming and it felt like she radiates some kind of soothing aura.

Raven sat down, watched the girl in front of her dressed in her carnation pink sleeveless top and white shorts with her wavy waist-length Scarlet hair swaying as she moved around, transferring the stuffs on the tray to her table. He could see that she had a smile on her face and he wondered why. "Licorice, you're going to pay for this," he said in a little voice as he closed his eyes and put his palm on his face. He remembered Licorice telling him in the kitchen that he should be the one to take the food to Scarlet so that he can be friends with her or else she will tell his secrets. She has always been threatening him and she was still doing it. So he has no choice but to follow her.

"Who's Licorice?" said Scarlet as she stood in front of Raven, looked down on him, holding a cup of milk. Raven moved his hand away from his face and he glanced back at Scarlet. "What's happening here?" he said in his mind. "I thought she and Licorice know each other already." Raven quickly looked down. "She's the one who prepared your breakfast." Scarlet sat down next to Raven, looking curious. "Oh. Is she your girlfriend?" Raven gave Scarlet a disgusted look. "Hell no," he calmly said, closed his eyes and folded his arms. "Who would ever want to hook up with that manipulative bitch?" Scarlet practically chuckled then suddenly he slapped him.

"That hurt! What was that for?" Raven shouted at Scarlet as he touched his reddening cheek. "That's for saving me yesterday," Scarlet replied as she started to drink her milk. Raven stared at Scarlet quizzically. "Don't I get a thank you instead?" He looked away and thought, "And here I thought that she was totally different from Licorice. Huh. Like master like servant." Scarlet paused. "I didn't ask for your help but thank you. That slap was _also_ for insulting the person who prepared this delicious food and milk." Raven's glare started to fade. "I can't believe you don't know who Licorice is," he said, trying to forget about the slap. He looked away from Scarlet. "She's the bear you've always loved."

Scarlet looked at Raven for a while, trying to find out if he was serious or not. She then stood up and went to get a notebook from her study table. She lifted it up and opened it. A picture of her favorite teddy bear named Coco fell on the table. Raven stood next to her which almost made Scarlet jump from shock. They both studied the picture. "Is this it?" Scarlet said weakly. "Yep, that's it alright." He turned around to sit on the couch again. "You could ask her yourself if you don't believe me. She's just cleaning downstairs." Scarlet faced down and thought about something then she finally said, "No. I believe you." Raven looked up at her. "Seriously?" Scarlet nodded then sat on the chair for her study table, three meters away from him. She looked down and cupped her knees. "I always felt that my favorite bear was alive."

"So I'm not the only one who suspected that bear has a soul," Raven thought. "Wait a minute. I only suspected it once when I tried to drown it in the water. Could it be… this girl has soul perception?" He glanced at Scarlet who was thinking deep, not looking back at him. "Well then, I guess there's no need for me to convince you that it is alive. But I still need to explain to you why that happened."

Scarlet was brought back to reality and she looked at Raven. "You know?"

"Of course I do."

"Can you tell me about it please?"

"I will. But for now, will you explain to me why you tried to kill yourself?" Raven's expression turned serious. Scarlet started to feel nervous. She had been trying to stay away from any topic of what happened but it was inevitable, especially when it just happened yesterday. She smiled anyway and said, "I simply wanted to see my parents already. I figured out if I died, I'd see them already." Each time Scarlet talked, Raven felt his heart ached. "I feel like I'm worthless in this world already now that they're gone."

Raven couldn't take it anymore. He stood up. "Listen, Scarlet. I'll be honest with you. You are sickening. Why are you so dependent on your parents? They gave you life. So what? They're not the ones who live your life. You could at least try to live your life without them now. Licorice told me you still have family besides your parents. You still have your aunt. You still have hope. You are not worthless. You know why? It's because I know you're a smart girl, seeing that you have lots of books. And you probably have read them all already. But don't you think you're being dumb for thinking of doing a suicide? Don't you know how precious life is?"

Scarlet just sat there, dumfounded. "You're right," she managed to say. "Indeed, I was dumb to think of suicide. I really loved my parents, Raven. So it's really painful now that they're gone. You probably haven't lost a loved-one so you don't know how it feels like."

Raven smirked, faced down and closed his eyes. "You really have no idea. I'm just like you, Scarlet. My parents got killed by blood-sucking monsters who disguise themselves as humans."

Scarlet gasped. "Vampires," she said in a little voice. "Raven, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"There's no need to apologize. Right now, how are you feeling?" Scarlet just shrugged. Raven came closer to her. "You had a bad dream, haven't you? I heard you talking while you were sleeping." Scarlet sweatdropped. "Oh, yeah… I dreamt about my parents," she said and sighed. "How long was I asleep?" Raven thought for a few seconds. "About nine hours I guess. Let me get my watch." He turned away to get his wrist watch from his bag. "Oh. Never mind," said Scarlet. "I have to go now to my uncle's house. Are you just going to stay here?" Raven dropped his wrist watch in his small black backpack and turned back to her. "No," he replied. "Then where do you plan to go after here?" Raven turned around again to wear his backpack. "I'll go back to Death City. Death Weapon Meister Academy will have exams on Friday so I have to go back as soon as possible to start studying." Scarlet tilted her head. "What a weird name for a school," she said. "But it sounds cool. Is it far from here?" Raven smiled at her. "Yes, but the more I get going, the more I get closer." Scarlet smiled back. "That's right," she said. "What's that school for anyway? It doesn't seem to be an ordinary school." She stood up. "It's a school for people who can turn into weapons and can be meisters, the technicians of the weapons." Scarlet was dumbfounded. "Seriously?"

Raven chuckled. It was the first time Scarlet saw him laugh but lucky for Raven, he tried to cover his mouth so his fangs won't be shown. Scarlet didn't get to notice them. "Why? You don't believe me?" said Raven. He stretched out his right arm and it slowly faded away into pixels and formed into a ripper. Scarlet fell to the ground in shock and fear. "I can't… believe this," she said. "Do you want to be my meister?" Raven asked without any hesitation as he looked down on her with a serious face.

"He's really into this," Scarlet thought. She slowly stood up. "This is really unusual, you know?" she said. "Anyway, a meister is supposed to be the one to hold the weapon, right? So maybe I can try holding you in full weapon form if you want." Raven changed into a his full weapon form and Scarlet quickly grabbed him from the air without jumping. "Hey, you did it." Raven said. "Did what?" said Scarlet as she held Raven in front of her with only one hand. "You were able to catch me without trying so hard." Scarlet looked clueless but she then chuckled hesitantly. "Don't you think I'm heavy?" said Raven. "Uhmm… No, not really," said Scarlet, looking away.

It was obvious to Raven that he wasn't heavy to Scarlet because she just acted normal. "Well, I'm very heavy to other people (which is another reason why he didn't let Licorice wield him during the battle with the vengeful woman)," he said. Scarlet faced to him again. "Really?" she said and looked away. "That's strange. Anyway, what's your name again?" Raven sweat dropped. "It's Raven Hiro." She started to change back to his human form. "Come to think of it, I never asked your name before," said Scarlet. "But even if I didn't know your name, you already knew mine, right?"

"Yeah. Licorice told me. So what do you say? Become my meister or not?" he said. He waited for her answer while he started cleaning his correction glasses with a white handkerchief. "I'd love to be your meister… But I'm not sure if my uncle and aunt will approve of it." Raven smiled. "Do you really need their approval?" Scarlet nodded, saying, "Uh-huh." She was looking down with a sad face. "Raven placed a hand on her shoulder which made her look up to him. "I don't want to ruin your relationship with your aunt and uncle so it's really up to you. I won't force you." He picked up his bag from the ground.

"I'll ask them," said Scarlet with determination in her voice. "And if they don't approve, I will just have to run away from them. They are not my parents anyway." Raven faced her and smiled a little. "You sound rebellious." Scarlet tilted her head. "Uhm. Is that a bad thing?" Raven rubbed her head. "You're too young to be rebellious. But I guess for you this is a chance. You have a special ability and it's too bad if you don't improve it." Scarlet looked away then grabbed his hand which made Raven practically blush. "Let's go. I just have to force my aunt and uncle, right?"

They started running through the hallways of the mansion. Scarlet was going first and Raven was just being dragged by Scarlet. "I take it back," said Raven. "You're not that rebellious. If you were really one, you wouldn't need to show yourself to them and get an approval." Scarlet stopped and Raven practically bumped to her. "I don't want them to worry, okay?" That's all," Scarlet said as she was facing down. "I see," Raven said.

First they went to kitchen. Licorice started hugging Scarlet without hesitation and she kept shouting "Master~! I missed you! I missed you!" Scarlet just hugged back, surprised at the sudden action. Licorice was just finished cleaning the kitchen. She shouldn't have done that since the mansion has a caretaker already but she missed the place and wanted to do something like cooking and so she felt she had the responsibility to clean up the mess. "You're Coco, right?" Licorice happily nodded. "I don't know how you became human but I really am glad to see you in your human form." Licorice giggled. "No, master. I was always a human. My soul was placed in the bear. Raven has it in his bag."

"Oh, I see," said Scarlet. "Why do you have it, Raven?" She sounded suspicious now.

"Don't you remember, Scarlet?" said Raven. "I was at the burial of your parents. But I was uninvited. I was a fugitive back then and I happen to stop by at Isfahan. You left your bear and I tried to give it back to you but I no longer found you." Raven said the truth but he would never tell her that he was in the burial to make sure that her parents were dead already. But not like he wanted them to be.

"So that's why he looked familiar," Scarlet thought. "Well, thank you for bringing it back," she said to Raven then she smiled. "Come on, you two. I still need to ask my aunt and uncle."

"What is it about?" asked Licorice.

Scarlet smiled. "I'm going to ask if I can go to Shibusen as Raven's partner."

Licorice just glanced at Raven. Her eyes tell that she'd like to kill him.

On their way to Scarlet's aunt and uncle's house, Scarlet was walking ahead of the two.

"Raven," whispered Licorice to Raven as she made a fist at him. "Scarlet becoming your meister wasn't a part of the plan!"

Raven just ignored Licorice. He looked down and dug his hands in his pockets. Then he took his phone out of one of the pockets, started typing on his phone and let Licorice read what he encoded. He gave his phone to her.

"Save your breath, Lico," read Licorice in her mind as she started reading what Raven encoded. "It's better than your plan of me becoming that kid's knight inshining armor."

Licorice glared at Raven. She deleted what he wrote then started typing.

"Fine," Raven read it in his mind. "But I still think my plan is better." He just sweat dropped after reading then continued walking silently.

At the end of the day, Scarlet got the approval she needed then she decided to go to the cemetery. Licorice and Raven came with her. They just stood behind her as she knelt in front of her parents' graves.

"Mom and dad, I love you both very much, more than I love my life," said Scarlet with a smile on her face. "I'm very, very, very sorry that this happened to you. Until now, police men are trying to find out the exact cause of your accident. At the mean time, I'll be a good girl like both of you always told me and I'll be going to a particular school that's one of its purposes is to obtain world peace. I'll train myself there to become stronger… I will conquer justice for you two. I will have my revenge…"

Her last sentence sent shivers down to Raven's spine. "So she's really planning on finding her parents' killer with the help of me," Raven thought then he smirked. "What she doesn't know is that the person who'll be helping her is the one who she's after. It will be so useless and a waste of time but like I said before, I can play a long for a while... before she finds out the truth."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Some part of this story was taken from my first story since that story is somehow related to this. So now we have Raven, Scarlet, Licorice, Kazune and Ren in the story. They're just supporting characters actually and I just wanted to show how they become a part of this story. I can now go back to the main characters (Kid and Crona) and focus on their story. Gomenasai for the long paragraphs. ~_


	13. A Mission to Isfahan City

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 13: Duty Calls**

Another day of Death the Kid being late in going to school has come and it was all because of massive symmetry check up in the morning. He usually does this whenever Liz and Patty mess up the house while Kid was gone, like when he's somewhere with Crona and the others. Liz and Patty didn't do it on purpose. They were sisters and they wanted to have some fun while Kid wasn't around, which rarely happens. But they went overboard.

"Come on, Kid, are you planning on ignoring us until the day is over?" asked Liz. She, her sister and Kid were now walking on the stairs to Shibusen. Kid was walking ahead of them, speechless, facing down, and hands in his pockets.

"We're really sorry, Kid," Patty apologized in behalf of herself and her sister. "We didn't mean to make you angry. Big sis and I were just having fun last night and we accidentally fell asleep so we forgot to clean things up."

Kid sighed. "Girls," he calmly said. "Please don't do it again. You know how hard it is to make everything in the house perfectly symmetrical. You should have at least tried to help me this morning but no… you were still too sleepy to rise up. Seriously, ever since we became students of this academy, we've been late for exactly eight times now."

"Well, look in the bright side, Kid," Liz said as she gestured her hands even though Kid didn't look back to see her. "At least we're late for the eighth time now, not seventh time or any other number." Patty started giggling.

"I know that. That's why I'm not as mad at you two as the other times. And it's exactly why you two shouldn't do it ever again because it won't be our eighth anymore."

Liz and Patty smiled. "Yeah, we get it," said Liz. "So are we forgiven?" asked Patty.

"No."

"Kid, I can't stand anymore of Patty's cooking," Liz whispered to Kid. "How much will you make me suffer?"

"You can try cooking something for once or buy anything edible in the restaurants."

Liz sweat dropped. "I'm not good at cooking as well. And you know why."

"Yeah, Kid," said Patty. "Do you really expect these girls who were abandoned by their parents know how to cook?"

Kid stopped walking, then Liz and Patty too. He faced his partners with guilt on his face. "Fine," he said. "I'll presume in cooking for us three." Liz and Patty threw their hands up in the sky and exclaimed, "Yay!"

"But on one condition," added Kid.

"What?" Liz asked in a lazy tone. Patty just stared at Kid.

"You will have to study and pass the exams on Friday."

Liz sighed. "How wills that ever happen?" she thought.

"Okay~!" said Patty.

"If Patty's okay with it, then I assume that you're okay with it too, Liz." Liz just faced down, feeling weak all of the sudden. Kid turned around with a smirk on his face. "Now, let's get going. We don't want to be late for the next subject."

In the classroom of Class Crescent Moon, students were just chattering and some were just reading books like Ox Ford and Harvar De Éclair. Kid's team went inside the room. Liz and Patty were shocked to see that Stein wasn't around.

"That's funny," said Liz. "I thought Professor Stein would definitely be here."

"I guess Crona already told them the news," Kid thought then he glanced at Crona who was just sitting beside Maka. He smiled at her then she smiled back slightly. He went to her and asked, "Did you tell them already?" Crona nodded.

"Tell them what?" asked Liz. Kid turned around to face Liz and replied, "Professor Stein and Marie-sensei wouldn't be around today. They're going to Isfahan City."

"Isfahan City?"

"Yeah, it's somewhere in Iran."

"What are they going to do there anyway?"

"I don't know. Honeymoon, maybe."

"Kid," said Crona, "I thought honeymoon is just for those who are newly wed."

"I was kidding, Crona," Kid said as he smiled and patted Crona's head. And he really _was _just kidding. He just wanted to know if Crona knows what honeymoon meant.

"Shinigami-kun," said Ren as she walked down on the stairs from one of the conjoined desks at the last raw. Kid, Crona, Liz, Patty and looked up, astonished at the formal name. "What is it, Ren-san?" replied Kid. He wasn't used to being called Shinigami-kun yet (since he's more commonly known as Kid) but he understood that it was just for respect.

"I heard an accident happened in Isfahan City. One of Shibusen's students was there so that's probably why Stein Hakase and Marie-sensei went there."

"I see," said Kid. "How did you know?"

"I was watching some international news last night."

"Last night? Oh right. Crona and I were studying so we didn't get to watch any news. And I guess it's probably the same for the others." Crona just looked at Kid.

"I bet no one but you cared to watch the news last night," said Liz to Ren.

"You like watching news, Ren-san?" asked Patty.

"Hai," said Ren as she smiled. "It's kind of a hobby already."

Later, Kid was the only one in their classroom while the others went outside to do some training and to have some fun. He continued studying for the exam. He was just reading a book about souls. "I wonder if Raven is the one who's in Isfahan," Kid thought as he stopped reading but kept watching the book on the table. He knew Raven ever since he was enrolled in academy for almost one month ago. Everyone knows his real name is Raven but no one knows his last name. A flashback came to Kid's mind about the first time he met Raven in the Death Room. Raven said to Kid that he himself doesn't know his last name. He said his new name is Franken Stein Jr. even though he doesn't like Stein Sr. at all. This reminded Kid of the first Stein Jr. who killed himself months ago, the one who Crona made friends with. He figured out that his name was given to Raven for the same reason as Marie's reason without Marie telling him about it.

Back to present, Kid realized that he hasn't seen Raven for almost two weeks already. That made him more suspicious. "But why would Raven be in Isfahan City anyway?" he thought as he placed his palm on his forehead. "I must gather some information later." He stopped thinking about the accident when he felt his new bruise on his right arm ached. Then he senses Crona's soul outside the room. He stood up next to door and anticipated the person to come inside.

Crona came inside and saw that Kid wasn't at the table where he usually is during classes. She was sure that he'd still be there since an hour ago, he was there studying while she went to the library with Maka. Suddenly, she felt two arms were wrapped around her as she glanced around the room. She was going to panic but she forgot about it when she looked down and saw the familiar pale hands with two identical skull rings on each one of them.

"K-Kid?" Crona said as she tried to look back, blushing.

"Something's… been bothering me," Kid said gently as he was still holding Crona, his eyes half-lidded. Crona held his hand, faced him and touched his neck with her other hand as to feel if he's sick. "Are you okay?" she asked. Kid shook his head slowly as he looked down. "Then what's bothering you?" Crona sounded concern. Kid slowly pulled up his sleeve and showed lower arm. There was a bruise. Crona's eyes widened. "Wh-what happened? D-don't tell me you tried to harm yourself."

Kid chuckled a bit. "No, Crona. See, while we were studying last night in your apartment, Liz and Patty was having a party at our house, just the two of them. Then they fell asleep and forgot to clean things up. So I've been cleaning their mess right after I came home from your apartment. I just couldn't stand the catastrophe I was surrounded. When I woke up in the morning, I continued cleaning. I accidentally fell down and had this."

Crona held his lower arm and watched the bruise. It didn't look severe so she felt relieved. "Be careful next time, okay?"

"But Crona…"

"What?"

"I need a bruise on my left lower arm too for the sake of symmetry!"

Crona sweat dropped. "So you want yourself to get hurt again? What if the bruise on your left arm won't look the same as the one your right?" Kid faced the ground and started calling himself asymmetrical garbage and he kept saying he didn't deserve to live. Crona sat beside him in seiza-style.

"You're not asymmetrical garbage, Kid," she said as planted a kiss on his cheek. Kid's eyes widened and he stopped sobbing. He faced Crona. "I can draw a bruise on your left lower arm if you want. But I'll Patty's crayons."

"Thank you, Crona. That's a good idea but it will be a fake bruise and it won't give the same pain as I have on my right arm."

Crona sweat dropped again as she faced down. "Never mind then. Let's just wait til your bruise heals. I'll help in healing it. It won't be long." She smiled at him. Kid was silent a few seconds then he finally smiled back. The sound of Spirit's voice interrupted and was heard from the speakers on the ceilings. Kid and Crona glanced at each other as they heard Spirit's echoing voice in the room and outside at the halls. Ren looked up at the speaker as she stopped drinking a bottle of water. She was having a snack with Maka and the others at the cafeteria.

"Death the Kid, Thompson Sisters, Ren Hiro and Black Star," said Spirit on the speakers. "Please come to the Death Room as soon as possible."

"Did something happen, Ren-san?" asked Maka.

"I don't know, Maka-chan," said Ren.

Black Star stood up. "Come on, Ren! Duty calls!"

Ren, Patty and Liz looked up at Black Star then stood up as well.

"See you commoners later!" Black Star grinned then started running. Ren and the sisters tried to keep up. "Wait up, Black Star!" shouted Ren.

Maka sighed. "I wonder when we'll we have a mission, Soul."

"You miss having one already?" replied Soul as he folded his arms. Maka nodded. "Well, don't worry. I have a feeling we'll have a mission sooner or later, and it's a big one." He grinned. "I want to try my Death Scythe skills more."

Maka glanced at him quizzically but she smiled anyway. "I'm really glad that you're a Death Scythe now."

"Yeah, me too. I can't thank you enough, Maka. You turned me into a Death Scythe in just seventeen months."

"As promised," she said. She did promise to Soul that she'll make him a Death Scythe and she did. The two hit each other's fists and had a high five. Then they stood up and went outside to do some training.

At the Death Room, Kid, the Thompson sisters, Ren and Black Star stood in front of Lord Death. "Thank you for coming," said Lord Death in a cheerful voice. "I called you all here to give to you a mission. And I hope all you will accept it."

"Whatever it is, honorable father, we will accept," said Kid as the Thompson sisters nodded. Black Star just folded his arms and Ren just looked at Lord Death.

"Glad to hear that. Anyway, the mission I'll give to you is that you will investigate what happened in Isfahan City. Recently, there was a woman there who tried to kill a young lady at the Khaju Bridge. But good thing one of Shibusen's students went there and saved the girl. Franken Stein and Marie went there last night to help the student and the victim. But it turns out the victim was actually trying to kill herself."

"Who was the student, father?" asked Kid.

"Stein Jr.," replied Lord Death. Kid glanced at his father in shock. "So I was right," Kid said as he faced down. "But how did Junior know that there was going to be an accident there?

"Hmm. I also wondered that. But Stein said that Junior was contacted by a friend of his from Isfahan named Licorice. He was a fugitive after all. So before he came to Death City, he stopped by at Isfahan and made friends with Licorice. She is a friend of the victim. She knows Raven's capability of becoming a weapon so she asked him to help her protect her friend. That friend of her was suicidal and she couldn't do anything about it."

"I see," Kid said.

"So now your job is to find out where the witch came from and try to find out also why she tried to attack the girl. If you come across with the other witches, there can be battle. Since this woman was an evil witch who didn't actually try to do magic on the girl, she might belong to a group of evil witch. And they might be planning on something evil." Lord Death laughed. "I remember Stein saying Junior should have let the woman live at least. But that's when he didn't know that the woman was actually a witch. At this time, Stein and Marie are doing some investigation and I want you all to help them since they might not be able to do it on their own."

"Yes, sir!" said Liz and Patty.

"You can count on us!" said Black Star.

"By the way, Stein told me that the victim decided to be enrolled in this school since it's found out that she's capable of being a meister. Junior also reported to me that she might even have soul perception. Kid, please welcome the girl to Shibusen. And all of you, when you meet her there, try to be friends with her."

"We will, Shinigami-sama," said Ren.

"Well, good luck to all of you! Ren and Black Star, go to a special classroom with Sid."

"You mean a classroom lit with aromatic candles?"

"Yes."

"What's that?" asked Ren.

"There," said Kid. "Meister and Weapon partners overcome their differences and thus create a stronger Soul Resonance in them. Since you and Black Star are different, you'll have to go there or else you won't be able to work efficiently later."

Ren nodded. "Thank you, Shinigami-kun."

Black Star glared. "I thought we're going to the mission already."

"We will, Black Star," sad Ren. "Right after we go to that room."

"Okay! Then let's get this over with!"

A/N: I hope this chapter wasn't confusing. ^_^ I decided from the start that I will make this story to express my imagination of vampires and new characters being in Soul Eater who will interfere with KidxCrona. And from the start, I knew this won't be a short story. More chapters to go! ~ With or without reviews, I will continue until I finish this story. :) Medusa, Asura and Arachne are no longer in this story. All that's left is second Noah and his team, Spartoi and Raven, etc.


	14. Reunion of Long Lost Siblings

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14: Difference<strong>

-Afternoon-

Scarlet knew it was her intuition that made her conversation with Licorice rather short. She understood easily in just a short time. Licorice spent almost fifteen minutes trying to explain everything to Scarlet, including exactly how she became human and how she met Raven. They just got back to the mansion from the cemetery and they decided to prepare for their travel back to Death City in Nevada.

"Master, I'm really glad that you understood pretty well," said Licorice as she rummaged Scarlet's closet in search for her master's best clothes. She was trying to help Scarlet pack while she didn't need to pack anymore. Scarlet's clothes were all refined and elegant, so Licorice was having trouble in choosing. Scarlet just stood behind her servant, bewildered at her behavior.

"It wasn't that hard to comprehend," she managed to say then she placed her hand on her servant's shoulder. Licorice stopped what she was doing and she looked up at her master. "I appreciate that you try to help, Licorice," Scarlet continued with a smile on her face, "but it seems like you're having trouble so maybe I should do it myself."

Licorice just kept staring at her master for a few seconds then she suddenly faced down and released an eldritch aura around her that made Scarlet sweat dropped. "But I want to help my master," Licorice said weakly. "Uhh… You can go downstairs and see how Raven is doing," Scarlet suggested, trying her best to not make Licorice feel useless. Licorice glanced at her master. "Fine," she reluctantly said. "But when I come back here, can I help you with some other things that doesn't include Raven?" Scarlet wondered why but she just smiled and said, "Sure."

"Okay, mom," said Raven on the phone. "Call me again when you're already at the airport." Licorice hid behind the wall as she listened to Raven's last words to Marie. Raven ended the call then he flopped down on the luxurious leather black couch in the main living room of the mansion.

Licorice sighed. She knew Raven already sensed that she's near him. She mustered up courage to take the initiative of bringing up the recent topic to Raven. "Here I go," she said as she walked up to Raven. He was trying to take a nap in a sitting position. "Hey, Raven, was that Marie?" Licorice asked him. He opened his eyes to glance at Licorice. "Yes," he said sincerely. "What did she say?" Raven refused to say a single word about it but he didn't want to amplify Licorice's resentment on him, especially at the moment, so he just gave his phone to her and made her read Marie's text message.

After Licorice read the message she gave it back to Raven. "So they've found out after all," she said. Raven can clearly perceive apprehension in her voice. He looked away from her, rested his elbow on the arm of the couch and placed his cheek on his palm. "You shouldn't be too surprised, Lico," he said, sounding bored. Licorice couldn't tell if he was trying to reassure her or if he was trying to mock her. But either way, it made her feel calm again. "Yeah," Licorice said with a smile. "You can't really keep news like yesterday from being unknown to Shibusen. So what are you planning to do now?" She sat next to him. Raven just kept his eyes closed, trying to keep himself calm. "I'll go to the airport later."

-Morning of the next day-

Death the Kid and Black Star's team went inside the Al-Zahra University Hospital in Isfahan City. To the patients and employees inside, Kid and the others were conspicuous that they weren't from Isfahan seeing that their skin and attire was peculiar especially Black Star's. Then the people there noticed Black Star's star-shaped tattoo that shows his heritage as a member of the Star Clan.

Black Star didn't know that the people knew about the Star Clan. They began to tremble in fear. Kid and the others just glanced at them, bewildered. Some of them were whimpering and others started to run towards the exit of the hospital. "What's wrong with these people?" Liz asked Black Star. "They look like they've seen a gost." Black Star just folded his arms and smirked. "This is like what happened in the Village of Needles." Liz gave Black Star a quizzical look. Kid ignored the people as he sensed some souls. He turned around and saw policemen approaching them with guns in their hands.

"What's with all the commotion here?" asked Jalil, one of the policemen, glaring at Kid and his comrades. He was a young man but nevertheless, large in stature. He has a well-muscled build, possible due to constant training. Liz, Patty, Black Star and Ren quickly turned around to face him. "Hey, Jalil," said another policeman named Nouri. His voice was shaking. "What?" Jalil said without looking at his friend who sounded scared, not much of a difference from the people who were trying to get out the hospital already. "Look at that aqua-haired boy. He's probably the one who caused the trouble." Jalil switched his glance from Kid to Black Star. He stopped glaring as his eyes widened when he saw Black Star's tattoo. "Ugh!" he uttered. "He's a member of the Star Clan!"

Ren glanced at Black Star. He was starting to look angry. "Ren-san, switch to chain scythe mode now," he whispered sternly. Kid heard him. Ren nodded acquiescently. She almost has the same abilities as Tsubaki since they were cousins but Black Star knew for sure that she wasn't as strong as her. Kid turned around calmly to Black Star and Ren. He extended one hand and forwarded his palm, trying to make a stop hand gesture. "We're not here to fight innocent people, Black Star," said Kid.

The policemen just stood there, dumbfounded at Kid. They expected that Kid and the others was Black Star's ally. "Then what are you here for, Kid?" asked Jalil, still sounding strict and holding a normal pistol. Kid faced Jalil. "Officer, we're here to check the corpse of the one who tried to kill Scarlet Vander." The policemen arched an eyebrow in astonishment. "Y-you can't do that!" said Nouri.

"Look boy," Jalil said to Kid, "we don't know what you're trying to do, but as I see it, you look like a nice young man who doesn't want to cause any trouble so I suggest you stay far away from that ninja behind you. He comes from a family of assassins who would do anything for money." Kid just smiled. "I know that," he said. "Huh?" uttered Jalil. "Then why are you…" Kid quickly took out his school I.D. and showed it to Jalil. "Death the Kid, reporting for duty," Kid solemnly said as Jalil looked at his I.D. "I and my comrades are from DWMA, including the ninja. We're here to help with the investigation of the incident yesterday at the Khaju Bridge.

Jalil, Nouri, Kid and his friends were now walking in the corridors of the hospital towards the morgue. "I don't understand," said Nouri as he walked while he looked at Kid. "Why is that ninja a comrade of yours, young master?" Kid was just walking with his hands in his pockets. "He may come from a family of assassins but he is now a student in my father's school. He refused to choose the path of the demon a long time ago." Black Star who was walking beside Kid just smiled. "Hey, Nouri, don't worry!" said Black Star then he grinned. "I wouldn't be caught dead trying to beat up a skinny guy like you." He couldn't be anymore annoying to Nouri, and Nouri couldn't be anymore looking pissed off to him.

-Evening of the day before-

Raven could hardly breathe as he felt Marie's tight hold on his neck, hugging him almost to death. "I'm so proud of you, Ray-Ray!" said Marie. They were in the taxi already with Stein and they were on their way to Scarlet's mansion. Stein just looked up at the mirror and smiled at the two who were at the backseat. "Marie, you're going to kill your son," said Stein. Marie quickly let go of Raven and Raven tried to catch his breath through panting. "Sorry, dear, I'm just really happy that you're improving," Marie said. When Raven started to breathe normally, he still held his neck and looked away. "She may have taken care of me but I don't remember ever becoming her son," he said in his mind.

Stein, Marie and Raven got off of the car. Stein and Marie stood at in front of the mansion in amazement. "This is the house of the victim?" said Marie as she was still looking at the mansion, her face brightening. "Yeah," Raven replied. "And she's waiting for us inside. "Oh, then come on. We don't want to make her wait any longer." She started to walk towards the front door.

Marie, you go ahead, Raven and I'll be there in a few minutes," said Stein. Raven glanced at Stein quizzically. Marie stopped walking and looked back. "Okay but hurry up," she said then continued while wondering why he made her let go ahead of them. When she was at the door already, she pushed the button for the door bell that made a ding-dong sound in the house.

"Raven, thank you for picking us up," said Stein. As usual, he sounded nonchalant. "No problem," said Raven without much expression. He was just glancing at Marie who was being welcomed in by Scarlet. Scarlet saw Raven and smiled at him. Raven smiled back. Stein looked suspicious as he saw Raven smiling then he glanced at Scarlet. He guessed that she was Scarlet. "So are you now ready to become a weapon to Scarlet?" Raven didn't bother looking at Stein. "Of course," he replied.

"I see," Stein said as he closed his eyes and smiled. "Great choice you made." This made Raven look up at him now. He gave him a quizzical look. Stein started to walk towards the mansion, still smiling. "I can sense that your new meister is one of a kind. So I hope you two will work together." Raven just stared at him, pondered his words then sighed. "Even if that's true, there are still a lot of things to do to see Scarlet's potentials," he thought. He then followed his father to the mansion.

-Continuation on the morning of the next day-

Kid and the others entered the morgue without the policemen now. Jalil told Kid that the woman's body was at the center of the room and so they easily found it. Liz hugged herself as she entered the room, feeling uneasy. "I feel like I'm losing my blood, Patty," said Liz. "This is worse than being in Crona's house where we found Medusa's dead body." Patty patted her sister's back. "Don't worry, sis, they're all dead already so there's nothing to worry about," she said and showed a reassuring smile at her big sister. The two of them just stayed near the door.

Kid, Black Star and Ren stood at the sides of the woman who tried to kill Scarlet. Kid held the white cloth from her head and slowly uncovered her face. Black Star was sweating. Ren just anticipated the face of the witch to be shown. When Kid finally uncovered the body until waist was shown, they stood back a little from the ghastly scene. Liz stared at the woman/witch's arm and her face became morbid than it already was. Kid and Black Star just gritted their teeth as they looked at the lower arm without a hand anymore.

While the others were busy studying the body, Liz preferred to stay far away from any dead person. "Hey, sis, I was wondering, can people use a dead person's blood in a transfusion?" asked Patty. Liz looked at her little sister lazily. "Of course not, Patty," she replied.

"At least it's not bleeding anymore," said Ren, trying to end the silence. "Look at these scratches on her neck," said Black Star as he glanced at the woman's neck. "I remember Raven having long but clean nails," said Kid. "I haven't seen this Raven yet but is he a gay?" Ren just laughed. She knew her brother too well and she was sure he wasn't close to being a gay at all. "I don't think so, Black Star." Kid continued to study the body. The woman had black hair and she was slim. Her skin was already pale. She was dressed in a plain white dress.

"Kid-kun, do you think she's really dead already?" asked Ren. "Yes since I don't sense her soul anymore," replied Kid then he sighed lightly. :"We just lost one of our chances of finding out if she's a witch or not." He covered the woman with the white clothing again. "Ren-san, please contact Professor Stein," he said to Ren as he faced her. "They're probably already here since last night." Ren nodded and said, "Hai."

In the hallways of the hospital, Kid approached Stein. He and Marie just arrived there with Raven. Scarlet chose to not come with them and just wanted to stay at their house.

"Master, why didn't you want us to come with Raven?" asked Licorice as she poured tea into her and Scarlet's cup. They were in the living room of the mansion. "I don't want to be near the person who tried to kill me," Scarlet said after being silent for a few seconds. "I feet guilty now that I tried to kill myself," she said. "You should be," said Licorice. She sounded more serious now. Scarlet smiled. "Raven made me realize that I still have a purpose in real life." Licorice looked away while still holding the pot of tea. "He should have," she said in her mind.

Back in the hospital, Kid said to Stein, "Good morning, Professor Stein and teacher Marie." Marie smiled at Kid. "We're glad you're all safe," said Stein. "How was your travel?" Black Star grinned. "It was fun!" he replied. "We rode one of Shibusen's jet planes!" Stein held his chin. "Hmm," he uttered, "I didn't know we have that."

Marie, Kid and Black Star sweat dropped. "Maybe you just forgot," Black Star said. "You're probably right, Black Star, since I haven't been in Shibusen for many years. I just came back to it when I met you and your friends. Ah, now I remember you beating me up for the first time. You really looked pathetic that time." Black Star's nostrils started to relinquish smoke as he glared at Stein. "Calm down, Black Star," said Kid. "You and I know you're stronger now enough to beat our own teacher." Stein smirked at Kid.

"Well, so much for that," Stein said. "Have you found anything suspicious about the body?" Kid shook his head. "Nothing much but the policemen said they have the leftover evidences that we may look at later." Kid and Stein stared at each other. "That's good then. For now, let's just wait for that time.

Raven came out of the hospital's comfort room. "So you really are doing the compensation," said someone behind him. He quickly turned around and saw her big sister which sent chills down his spine and his eyes slightly widened in shock. She was just folding her arms and was standing against the wall near the comfort room for boys.

"What are you doing here?" said Raven, sounding cold. "What else? I'm here with Black Star and the others for an investigation." Raven looked confused. "You're a student in Shibusen now?" Ren laughed. "I can't believe you didn't know that yet. You really should start coming to school more regularly to hear latest news."

Raven rolled his eyes at her sister. "What's the use in going to school when I still didn't have a partner?" He said as he smiled. He was obviously okay having no meister back then. "Oh but I heard you have a meister now." A grin started to form on Ren's face. "Well, that's not such a surprise since you say you're in Shibusen already. I told Lord Death about it." The grin on Ren's face faded. "Yeah and he told us about it," she said as she walked closer to Raven. "Anyway, why did you choose her to be your meister? Isn't she the daughter of the parents you killed a long time ago?" Raven looked away. "Don't even remind me," he said bitterly in a low tone.

All of the sudden, Ren gently wrapped her arms around her little brother who was one year younger but they almost had the same height. She was taller. Raven's eyes fully widened. He at least felt relieved that there was no one around except the two of them. He can feel the same blood flowing in his body is flowing in her sister's body. It made him feel warm but he felt weird and he asked, "Why? Why is she doing this? It's like I didn't do anything wrong to her." He can hardly remember the last time his sister hugged him before the two of them became vampires. "I missed you," Ren whispered and smiled. "Why did you abandon your big sister?"

Raven remembered the incident that happened in Japan that made Tsubaki, his cousin, go there for one month to be with her mother. He pushed his sister away as the memory of reading the information about the incident came to his mind and the memory of Kazune being attacked by his sister. "I didn't abandon you. We got separated. I tried searching for you and I gave up. Did you do the same? I bet not. Anyway, that's not important anymore. Where's Kazune?" he said then gritted his teeth. He looked down at her sister who has fallen to the ground and he made fists.

Ren looked up at him. "Kazune?" she said. "You know, the boy with orange hair whom you attacked last week," Raven said. Ren faced down then slowly pulled herself up. "A while ago," she started talking as she was still facing down," I thought that I knew you too well already, brother. I thought… you're not a gay." Raven glared at her sister. "What?" he said. "Why do you care so much about that useless human?" she said to her, still facing down. "The fact you need to face, Raven is…" she slowly faced him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't care about humans anymore. They're just prey to vampires."

Raven shove her hand away, dug his hands in his pockets and looked down. "You maybe right but you also need to face the fact that I'm not like you, Ren. I still have my human side. I'm not a full vampire yet like you. So don't expect me to think like you." He slowly turned around and started to walk away.

"Raven, no matte how different we are, there's always at least one thing that will draw us together," said Ren as she watched her brother walk away. Raven stopped and just stared at the light coming from the window at the end of the hallway. "I may be like Tsubaki who can change into different weapons while you can't," Ren continued as she smiled. "But the fact remains that you and I are somehow the same. We both killed innocent people and we will continue to do so." Ren started to walk away from the opposite direction. "Continue to kill innocent people?" he said to himself then he smiled. "As if Licorice would let me…" he closed his eyes and decided to head back to the waiting room where Stein and the other were, caring less with wherever his sister will go.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Another short chapter like chapter 1. Sorry for this. I don't feel the need of making it long. I'll update soon. ^^ By the way, I won't remake the story anymore. I just made some changes in chapter 1. (Licorice clearly hates Raven but as time passes by, her heart starts to soften.) Merry Christmas, everyone!_


	15. The Full Vampire's True Motive

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15: Study<strong>

Death the Kid opened the large door marked with a skull and the plate, "Death Room." He walked through the tunnel of torri gates looking like guillotines. He stepped forward on the stairs leading to the large round platform.

Lord Death was looking at the large mirror with a brass frame with a Shinigami mask on top. He turned around when Kid was two meters away from him already. "Hello there, son!" he said cheerfully. "This time I haven't forgotten how cute those stripes on your hair are!"

The young Shinigami glared at his father when he mentioned his stripes. "Father, please forget about that," he calmly said. "They're not as cute as you think."

Lord Death squinted at his son. "They're cute to me." Kid closed his eyes for a few seconds as he placed his hands on his waists. "Anyway, I have come here to report about our mission."

"Yes, thank you for coming. Now that you mentioned it, how was your mission?"

"We didn't engage into any battle. Black Star was really bored. We found out that the late Amy Johnson who tried to kill Scarlet Vander didn't belong to any group of witches but she was indeed a witch. We saw books of witchcraft in her house. Also we read in her journal that she had been practicing witchcraft. We apologize for messing with someone's chattel but we had to do it in order to gather information. "

"It's alright, Kid. It's not like Amy still have the guts to get angry at you for reading her journal. And I mean this literally since she's dead already. So was this woman living alone?"

"Yes. But, apparently, a friend of her whom we interviewed said that she had always been in love with Scarlet's father, Derek, ever since they became best friends in high school. So she had always waited for him even when she found out already that he was married to Scarlet's mom, Sameen. We read in her journal that she have cried the whole day when she found out that Derek was already dead. Also, we read that she planned to take care of Scarlet despite the fact that Scarlet's mom is her rival. We bet that her plan changed after Scarlet was being unfriendly to her."

"I see. So basically, Amy had a grudge on the Vander Family. She loved Derek. She hated Sameen but she wanted to take care of Scarlet. This witch isn't that bad, is she?"

Kid looked at his father quizzically, feeling skeptic. He did not respond.

"Well," Lord Death continued. "This witch had been learning witchcraft but she never tried to practice it to make Derek fall for her. And she even thought about taking care of Scarlet. She just changed her mind, reminded herself of her jealousy and she fell for…"

"Insanity," the father and son whispered in unison. They stared at each other, surprised to come up with the same word but they were both serious.

Later, Kid came out of the Death Room. Ren approached him as soon as he closed the door with both hands. He stood in front of the door for a few seconds. "Kid-kun, how was it?" she asked as she walked closer to him.

Kid turned around. "Oh, hello, Ren-san," he replied with a smile. "I have explained everything to him already and he said he's thankful of us for doing a good job."

Ren smiled. "It wasn't really an invigorating mission but we managed to have fun."

The two started walking in the hallways. "Yeah, I'm glad we did," said Kid. "Thanks for being cooperative, Ren. It's quite surprising that even when you're just new around, you're already very helpful to us."

"I'm just doing my job," Ren said as she was holding her book against her chest with both hands.

The two reached the middle of two hallways which leads to different paths. Kid stopped walking which made Ren stop walking to. "Well, Ren-san, keep up the good work." He placed a hand on her shoulder which made her face flushed in fading crimson. "I'll be going this way. Crona and I will be studying in her old room. You should be studying too."

Ren suddenly felt enervated. It makes her sad that Kid will be going to a different direction from her while she also felt jealous that Crona gets too spend so much time with the man of her dreams. She made a fist, looked down and nodded.

"See you tomorrow then," Kid nonchalantly said as he waved at Ren without smiling. Ren waved back then she watched him walk away. "Someday," Ren thought as she walked alone in the hallways of Shibusen now with a solemn face, "you won't walk away from me anymore. Someday… you'll be mine."

Crona stopped reading her book when she heard gentle knocks on her door. She stood up, walked over to the door and opened it. It creaked as she slowly pulled it inwards. When she saw three white stripes she already had the idea of who it was. "Crona!" Kid said as he started hugging her like a teddy bear even though she almost seemed to be almost as thin as a stick.

"K-K-Kid-!" Crona screeched as she gripped his coat. She felt her body warm all over. "I missed you," said Kid. "You did? I-I missed you too."

"Of course I did! I was away from you for two days. How could I not miss you?" He stopped hugging her but he held her elbows and looked into her baby blue eyes which he missed a lot. Then her Spartoi uniform got his attention. "Why are you in your Spartoi uniform?"

Crona looked down. "Maka and I were given a mission while you were gone," she said.

"That's great!" Kid said as he took her hand and led them to her old bed. They both sat down. "Was it successful?" Crona replied yes as she looked down and held the end of her white skirt, her legs close to each other. She was still shy around him, especially now that she was wearing her Spartoi uniform. She remembered the time when Kid gave it to her when they were in the airship.

"I'm so proud of you." Kid said as he started patting her head gently which made her smile. "So are you ready to study now?" Crona looked at him and nodded with a smile.

Raven was helping Marie with cooking lunch in the kitchen of Patchwork's Lab. They were cooking steak. Stein came into the kitchen and called Raven's name. Raven stopped putting salt on the raw meat and looked back to see Stein talk. "Scarlet's here," Stein said. Raven came out of the house. His hands were in his gray hoodie's pockets.

"Hey, Raven," Scarlet started. "I want to talk with you about… some things," she said as she looked away. "Sure," replied Raven. "Come on in." He turned around to open the front door. "No, wait. Can we talk outside?" Raven faced her and arched an eyebrow. "Why?" he said. Scarlet shook her head. "It's nothing, really. It's just that it's such a fine weather today and I thought maybe you would want to take a walk." Raven gave Scarlet a lazy look. "I'm not a dog, Scarlet."

"Please?" Scarlet said as she clasped her hands together and grinned. Raven stared at her begging appearance then he closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine," he finally said. "But wait here, I'll get an umbrella." He started to walk towards the front door. "Aw, come on, Raven," Scarlet said as she tried to pull him back. "You're already really pale. You should try to get a tan sometimes."

No matter how much Scarlet pulled, Raven was still able to go inside and get his umbrella. He came out and said, "I don't like the sun," he said. Scarlet can hear the hate in his voice. "Here," Raven said as he stretched out his arm and gave her the umbrella while he searched for his ringing phone in his little black bag. "You hold it for us." Scarlet just acquiesced but questions kept bugging her mind as they were silently walking on the streets of Death City.

"Why doesn't he like the sun?" Scarlet thought. "Maybe he just really wants to stay white and doesn't want to have sunburns. But why is he so pale and cold even when it's freaking hot today? Oh, never mind. I'll just find out sooner or later."

Kid was sitting on Crona's chair at her study table. He was just finished studying. It's been surprising him that the room became very quiet. "Crona, I'm done," he said as he turned around to see Crona. He expected that she was still studying on her bed but what he saw made him almost cry because of her adorable sleeping face in tranqulity. He watched the thin frame on the white bed and smiled at its innocence and serenity.

Crona was still in her Spartoi uniform and Kid tried hard not to look at her smooth white legs so he quickly placed her black and white blanket on her. "I guess she overdid it or probably she didn't have enough sleep because of their mission," Kid thought. "Either way, she still deserves her sleep." He knelt down in front of her, brushed off her asymmetrical bangs away from her face, closed his eyes and kissed her forehead. He could smell the delicate fragrance of her hair. He then stood up and smiled down at her.

It was sunset already. Kid remembered her suggesting a while ago that if the exam starts, he shouldn't write his name first because it will slow him down. He really wanted to do things systematically, putting the name first then answering the test but he knew Crona was right so he had to follow her suggestion. He wanted him and her to ace the test. He sat back down, picked up another book and started studying again while waiting for his love to wake up so he can teach her the things he learned.

"Raven, how did you feel when your parents died?" Scarlet said all of the sudden then she continued licking her vanilla ice cream. She and Raven sat by the fountain in Death City's square. Raven glanced at Scarlet as she neatly ate her ice cream without looking at him. "Do you really have to ask that?" he said. Scarlet nodded.

"I felt like what you felt," Raven admitted. Scarlet turned her head to Raven. "Hmm?" she uttered. "You felt like you wanted to do suicide when your parents died, right? Well, I also felt the same. I, too, felt like… I no longer had a reason to live. But I knew I was wrong."

Scarlet just kept staring at Raven who was looking at the ground and holding the black umbrella above them. His eyes were gloomy but he kept a serious face. Scarlet smiled, cleaned her hands with her pink handkerchief, held the holder of the umbrella, and lifted it up as she stood up. Raven looked up at her. She could tell that he's wondering why she stood up.

"Come on, Raven," Scarlet said as she lend Raven a hand. "We both still have a reason to live. And now it's time to study for the test." Raven can't help but smile. "Yeah but I'm surely going to fail at it anyway," he said as he gripped her hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. "Don't say that! We're at least going to pass, okay?" Raven took the umbrella from Scarlet. "Fine with me," he said then they started walking homewards.

* * *

><p><em>AN: We're getting to the climax (or should I call it that?). Next chapter will be about the exam already. ^^ I'm guessing I won't be able to finish this story before this year ends. There are still five or six more chapters to go. And I recently made the last chapter so I think there won't be a problem anymore about where this story will be heading. Gonna add chapter 16 later or tomorrow._


	16. Supper Written Exam Again!

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16: Test<strong>

In the apartment of Ragnarok and Crona, Ragnarok placed down his cup of coffee on the dining table and glanced at the clock on the wall. They still got thirty minutes left before school starts. He wondered what was taking Crona too long to come down. He decided to go upstairs to her room. "Hey, Crona, we're going to be late if you don't hurry up in there!" Ragnarok said through Crona's door. Crona was just finished combing her hair in front of her mirror. She was stroking her bangs as she combed her hair. She was wearing black robe that day. She flinched when she heard Ragnarok. "Coming," she said as she turned around and went to the door.

On their way to Shibusen, Crona asked Ragnarok, "Ragnarok, do you think I should cut my bangs and make it look symmetrical?" Ragnarok looked at her quizzically. "Don't tell me you want to do that because of reaper boy," he said. Crona shook her head. "There's no point in denying, Crona," Ragnarok continued. "Look, if that Shinigami really loves you, he should accept you for who you are and don't try to change you." Dumfounded Crona looked up at Ragnarok who was next to her. Then she glanced at the floor again and smiled. "You're right," she said.

Kid never actually told Crona to cut her bangs symmetrically. He loved Crona for who she was and he didn't want to change everything about her. He just wanted to broaden her mind, widen her understanding of things, and give love to her, love that she never had for so many years. And Crona knew about this. She just thought maybe she would make Kid happier if she cut her bangs. But after hearing what Ragnarok said, she realized she didn't have to change for Kid but she still wanted Kid in her life. She was now relieved that Ragnarok doesn't get jealous of them. Actually, he has become supportive.

It was Friday already and Black Star entered the classroom of Class Crescent Moon with a smirk on his face. This time, he was confident because was able to study for the test without Tsubaki. He felt some arrogance in him. But as he took a test paper from the teacher's table, thoughts of Tsubaki started to linger in his mind. He remembered the time they were studying together. The poignant memory of disappointing Tsubaki when he tried to cheat for the test last time came to his mind but he pushed the memory away as he held the test paper firmly, smiling down at it. "I won't disappoint you this time, Tsubaki," he said as he took a seat next to Soul.

Meanwhile, in a hospital in Japan, Tsubaki was sitting down next to her father, Sanjuro, who was lying on a bed. It's been almost two weeks since the incident happened and she had always been there for his father. Her mother wasn't around that time. She had to attend work. Tsubaki was getting drowsy even it was still morning. It was awfully quiet in the room since she and unconscious father was the only ones in it. She couldn't make noise. It would disturb her father's rest and she wasn't the kind of person who would make a racket just to kill boredom, not like Black Star. She hoped that her father would soon wake up already. Her eyes started to close as she rested her head on the small table next to her father's bed.

"Tsubaki" Sanjuro said weakly. His eyes gradually opened and he glanced at Tsubaki. "Chichi-ue!" said Tsubaki. She quickly sat up straight and she was widely awake now. Worry was written all over her face. She held her father's hand with both of her hands. "I've read your letters," her father said with a smile on his face. "Congratulations to you and your friends in defeating Asura." Tsubaki's tears started to fall down on her eyes as she stared at her father's half-lidded gaze. She then held the back of his shoulders and started crying on his chest. "Thank you… I'm… I'm so happy you finally woke up," she said between sobs. Sanjuro patted her head. "I should be the one thank you… You came home just to look after me, didn't you?"

Tsubaki gently pulled herself away from his father and sat properly on her chair. She wiped her tears and nodded. "Who did this to you, Chichu-ue?" she suddenly asked. She could see that she shocked her father. Sanjuro was quiet for a while. He just kept staring at the white blanket in front of him that was covering almost three fourth of his body. Then he finally opened his mouth. "Do you remember your aunt Tomomi Naktsukasa?" Tsubaki searched for her aunt in her memories and she remembered the time she met her when she was young. She was a beautiful young-looking lady even though she was about thirty five years old already.

In Tsubaki's memory, Tomomi knelt down and gave Tsubaki a camellia flower. "People say that Camellia flowers don't have a fragrance, Tsubaki," her aunt said. "But that's only because their smell is subtle. But if people put more effort in smelling its fragrance, they'll discover it. Someday, _someone_ will tell you that Camellia flowers do have a fragrance. And that person will be the one who will recognize your strength and worth." Her aunt smiled. Then the memory faded. It was Tsubaki's only memory of her aunt Tomomi. Tsubaki smiled as she remembered her aunt. She knew her aunt was right because Black Star was that _someone_ she was talking about. "Yes, I remember her," she said to her father.

"Your aunt… _was_ a member of the Nakatsukasa clan," said Sanjuro. "Was?" Tsubaki thought. "She and her husband… Kyle Hiro, your uncle… died." The smile on Tsubaki's face faded as her eyes widened. She couldn't believe what her father just said. She was expecting that she'll try to meet her aunt now that she remembered her and while she was still in Japan. She felt like she was unable to talk. "Wh-when did this happen?" she managed to say. "I couldn't remember exactly when, but… It happened a long time ago. They were ambushed by vampires… in their house in the woods. It is said that their children, your cousins… Ayame and Daisuke… are still alive but their whereabouts are unknown. The incident… was kept a secret so that people won't panic about vampires."

Tsubaki looked down on the floor, angry at herself for not being aware of what happened. Darkness surrounded her for a moment. "Chichi-ue…" she started, feeling anxious, "Did vampires try to kill you?" Sanjuro quietly nodded. "Who are these vampires?" Tsubaki said as she pushed her palms on the bed and looked at her father. She was now determined to avenge her father, her aunt and uncle. "They're the same vampires who killed your aunt and uncle. They're mad at the Nakatsukasa clan for killing their ancestors. Those monsters… deserved to be killed but now their descendants want revenge. So they started with the Hiro family. The killing was stopped for many months when a traitor of the Nakatsukasa clan made a deal with the vampires. The traitor, I believe changed her first name. She was almost killed by the vampires. But she wasn't killed when she made a deal." Tsubaki looked up at his father now. "What deal?" she said. "She made a deal that she would be one of them and they would spare her life (a.k.a. don't kill her) in exchange." Tsubaki gasped.

Back to Shibusen, Sid came in to the classroom and said, "Okay, good morning, everyone. The same as last spring, I'll be proctoring you today. In five minutes you can start answering the test. You'll be answering it within one hour only." Maka was sitting next to Soul already. "I hope you don't have cheat sheets under your clothes again," Maka said as she glared at Soul. They were about to start answering the test. Soul smirked. "Not this time, Maka," he said then he started answering. Kid watched the test paper on his table. "Professor Stein's probably the one who made this test again," he thought. He picked up his favorite pen and remembered Crona's words: "_Maybe you should answer the test first before you write your name_." He smiled at the relief of remembering them and then he started answering like the others.

After twenty minutes, Kid put down his pen and reviewed his answers. His test paper still didn't have his name. Liz glanced at Kid in astonishment. "You're finished, Kid?" she asked. "Yes," he replied without looking at her. "But I haven't written my name yet." Maka and Ox was looking up at Kid, their jaws almost falling to the ground. Crona just smiled at Kid then she proceeded to mind her own business with the test. "It must be that he didn't write his name first so he wouldn't fail like last time," Maka thought then she shook her hand and quickly continued answering. "Even though Soul is a death scythe already, I still have to maintain my position as ranked 1!" Soul watched her partner looking determined, his pen still in his hand. He can clearly see that she was focusing and cannot be disturbed now. "Heh," he uttered. "Now I really wish Death the Kid the genius is sitting next to me," he thought then continued answering. "How unfortunate of me last time to be sitting next to him when he didn't know the technique yet."

Almost one hour later, Sid stood in front of the class once again. "You have one minute left to answer the test," he said. Kid just looked at him then he looked down on his paper. He was writing letter K of his name already. "This is it," he thought. "I won't make the same mistake anymore." He was exuberant when he made the letter K perfect then he continued with the rest of the letters. The bell rang. "Time's up," said Sid. Kid smirked. "Just on time," he thought then he glanced down at Crona. She seemed to be fine. They all passed their test papers to the front.

Death the Kid was now walking in the hallways without his partners. He was going to see the results of the test on a board. He looked up from the floor, hands in his pockets, and was shocked to see Crona looking at the board of the test results. Crona turned to face him with a smile on her face. "Congratulations, Kid!" she said as she threw her arms around him which made him utter, "Oof!" Then he glanced up at the board behind her and saw he got first placed. Maka was second, third was Ox, fourth was Ren, and eighth was Crona and the rest he didn't bother to see anymore. He closed his eyes, smiled and hugged Crona back. "It's all thanks to you, Crona," he whispered to her ear. "But sadly, I envy you." Crona opened her eyes and said, "What?" Then Kid sat down in fetal position and hugged his legs. He faced down. His face was solemn and his bangs covered his honey-colored eyes.

Crona stood beside Kid in wonder. She quickly imitated what he did, she also sat down like him and hugged her legs but she looked at him. "Kid, wh-what's wrong now? Did I do something wrong?" she asked. Kid just kept quiet. Crona started weeping as she blamed herself in her mind for what's happening to Kid. He stopped facing down and glanced at Crona quizzically. "Why are you crying?" he said. "Because you-re… you-re…" Kid panicked. "Wait, Crona, I didn't mean to make you cry!" He held her shoulders and shook her gently. Crona looked away and said between sobs, "Then why… why did you act weird all of the sudden and say you envy me?"

Kid was dumfounded for a moment then he started chuckling as he pinched Crona's cheeks which made her face twitch. "Silly," he said with a smile then he took out his white handkerchief and started wiping off her tears from her eyes. "I was just jealous of you since you're ranked eight but… I realized it doesn't matter." Crona just stared at him like a child who was just finished crying. "I'm actually happy now that the nugget of my life did a very good job." They both stood up as he held her hand. "Sorry for acting weird." Crona shook her head. "N-no, it's okay," she said. "I understand your love for symmetry already and I'm just sorry that I forgot that your favorite number is eight." Kid sweat dropped. "Don't apologize, Crona, you didn't do anything wrong."

Maka sighed. She was alone, sitting on the bench at the basketball court. She was still disconsolate that she didn't get first place over Kid. Later, Soul, Black Star, Ren, Liz, Patty, Kid and Crona arrived. "Oi, Maka, what's up with you?" said Soul. He and Crona sat next to her. "It's nothing," Maka said weakly with a sad smile. Soul let out a sigh. "I think I know already." He smiled. "Let's talk about it later, okay? Right now, let's play a game." Maka looked at Soul lazily. "Basketball again?" she said. Soul's smile turned into a smirk. "Yeah, but like last time, we'll have a punishment for the team that loses. If we lose, you're going on a date with your father again but if Kid's team loses… he shouldn't care for symmetry for twenty four hours." Kid flinched. "You got to be kidding me," he said as he glared at Soul. Crona can't help but giggle. She tried to cover her mouth though. "So, do you accept?" Soul said. Kid glanced at Crona, smiled, glanced back at Soul and said, "Bring it on."

* * *

><p><em>AN: I'd like to make this a bit longer but I really can't take it anymore. I think I'm coming up with a cold. How unfortunate. ;( Anyway, I hope my sickness didn't really affect how this chapter turned out. Ayame is Ren and Daisuke is Raven. They changed their name. Soul challenges Kid for the sake of Maka. Things will be explained more on the next chapters. Thanks again to Chabeli for the reviews. ^^_


	17. Raven and Scarlet's 1st Soul

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17: Neophyte<strong>

The sky was tinted by purple already and the yellow moon as usual, was snickering to itself. From a rooftop of a four story building, Raven discretely placed one foot on a higher ground at the edge of the floor and rested his elbow on his knee as he carefully looked down and watched Kelson Eddie, a human who turned evil, running after Rachel Boyd on the quiet streets of Death City. Rachel started to scream as she ran for her life. Raven made a fist as he can no longer stand just standing there and looking at them. Darkness was encompassing him. A taller building was blocking him from the moon. His teeth including his four sharp ones glistened as he greeted them in impatience. He finally turned around to face Scarlet who was sitting on a patio chair, drinking a cup of tea.

"What the heck are you doing?" Raven shouted at Scarlet. "Do you really think now is the right time to have tea when we're on a mission? And why are you even dressed in steam punk fashion?"

Scarlet just took one last sip from her cup of tea then looked at Raven nonchalantly. "You ask so many questions, Raven," she said. "Don't be such a killjoy. There are many benefits of the tea to the body. You should try some especially during this time." She uncrossed her legs, stood up then placed her cup on the little white table next to the chair.

Raven just glared at Scarlet. He thought about himself being a half vampire now, looked away and said, "Sorry but I don't drink tea. It's useless to me."

Scarlet looked at Raven quizzically. "That makes me wonder why but that's not really important." She started to walk towards him in the darkness. She began to show solemness which finally brought relief to Raven. His eyeglasses prevents his eyes glowing red in the dark to be shown so it remained dark green. "Right now," continued Scarlet. "We need to save someone."

Raven sweat dropped. "Did you just figure it out right now or haven't you heard the screaming?" he said to Scarlet.

"Of course I already did," Scarlet said sincerely as she smiled and stood next to him. Gold color emitted by street lights reflected on one side of her face as she turned to Raven.

Raven sighed. "Let's just get this over with," he said as he stood up properly and closed his eyes, forgetting his anger on Scarlet.

"Right," Scarlet said with confidence. She clasped her hands together on her back and delightedly watched Raven as he turned into his weapon form, a Ripper. She quickly grabbed him from the air, landed firmly on the floor with one leg kneeling. For a second, she listened to Rachel's scream. She glared and jumped from the rooftop to the street then she started running towards the direction where the scream came from.

"How did you do that?" said Raven in his weapon form, obviously bewildered.

"Did what?" Scarlet shouted at the weapon in her hand as she kept her eye on her destination.

"Baka! You jumped off from a rooftop without even feeling any pain! That's what you did!"

"Oh," said Scarlet as she smiled. She was still running through the city. "To tell you the truth, I'm an athlete and I guess these boots really do come in handy. It's really comfortable."

"Do those boots come along with your clothes?"

"Well, yeah. It's actually why I'm dressed like this."

"Good. You should wear that more often." Scarlet glanced at him suspiciously for a few seconds. Raven glared at her. "And it's not because it makes you look cute."

"I get the gist already, Rey," Scarlet said with a little laugh. "You don't have to try hard in explaining. It's not that I think you're a pervert or anything." Raven gaped and scowled. "Just focus on our mission now."

"Whatever," Raven replied nonchalantly.

It had only been a few days ago that both Scarlet and her partner had taken up this assignment, to start collecting evil human souls even though they didn't have enough training yet. But Stein believed Scarlet was different, that she was a fast learner as he watched her train with Raven. Yesterday, he witnessed her having a legal fight with Akane, meister of Clay, on the grounds in front of the academy which are also used as a makeshift battleground for training fights between students.

Akane was incredibly strong but Scarlet managed to push her limits and almost won the fight. Instead of getting depressed by their lost, she felt more determined to do better and thanked Akane for taking the fight seriously. It had been today that they had exams in the academy. Even though they still felt worn out because of it, they didn't want to procrastinate and forget about their mission.

Scarlet put a halt in running and made a screech as she stopped to turn to the right and continued to run, not letting anything to distract her. It would be only a few seconds later until she finally gets to her destination.

Hysterical Rachel Boyd, who was now have fallen helplessly on one of the streets of Death City, looked up with wide shaking eyes at Kelson Eddie's gruesome and used to be human face. His mouth opened, showing his sharp teeth as he let out foul saliva. "No escape," he hissed as he looked down at her with his huge crimson eyes. A painful sting shot through Rachel's chest as she tried to stand up but then Kelson's strong Black Hand was on her heart, pushing her back down. Rachal shut her eyes and screamed, "Mommy!"

Few meters away, Rachel's mom finally arrived and screamed her daughter's name as she stretched out one arm in an attempt of snatching her child from Kelson but a realization struck her mind that made her stop from saving Rachel. She has never seen such monster like Kelson before. She felt she was frozen to the ground but she trembled excessively in fear. She thought how she could ever save her precious daughter from a lusus naturae. She didn't know what to. Her eyes began to water as she gritted her teeth. She never felt so impotent before in her life until now.

A fast-moving disc-shaped blade suddenly swooshed in the air between Rachel and Kelseon, cutting Kelson's wrist in a flash. Kelson's hand that was on Rachel's chest flew in the air, releasing an enormous amount of human blood that got onto the ground, on Rachel's yellow dress, her limbs, hair and face. The blade bumped on to the well and ricocheted to the other walls of the nearby buildings. It came back to the monster, slicing a few parts of its body.

Rachel quickly pushed herself away from the monster that was growling in pain already as she heard the sound of the ricocheting blade bouncing from wall to wall then hitting the monster. Fear was still in her but she and her mom, as she saw, felt relieved that they sense Shibusen students. Raven transformed back into human and started running towards Rachel with a serious face. Her mom also started to run to her when she thought Raven was a bad guy who would take her child. "Don't touch her!" she screamed while running towards Rachael but a girl behind her with Scarlet hair wrapped her arms around her and shouted, "Duck!"

Scarlet and Rachel's mom fell to the ground whilst no sooner than Raven stood in front of Rachel and started shooting more blades at Kelson, his mouth shut. The blades flew in the air, every one of them hitting Kelson like flying discs. Every hit slashed through his body. Raven ducked with one leg kneeling, otherwise he'd get hit by his blades too. Scarlet tried hard not to let Rachel's mom stand up. They lied on the ground as she clutched her arm around Rachel's mom shoulders. The mother was feeling clueless and terrified already. She struggled to free herself from Scarlet. "If you stand up, you'll get hit so stay down and calm yourself please!" Scarlet shouted, getting annoyed with the mother's behavior.

Few seconds later, the bloody blades went back to the ripper. Raven only made a partial transformation so his attacks weren't that effective. He still needed Scarlet to wield him to produce a longer time limit of the blades to be ricocheting. The already injured Kelson Eddie still managed to stand up and attempted to attack Raven with his gigantic hand with sharp dirty yellow nails. He grunted as he raised his hand. Scarlet realized the blades were no longer present. She sat up and gasped as she saw Raven was in big trouble already. "Raven!" she screamed then quickly ran to Kelson. Raven saw Scarlet and knew she could trust her. He turned around and held Rachel in his arms and started to escape while Scarlet jumped on the back of Kelson. She punched him numerous times with her fists then finally used soul menace on him which made him fall to ground really hard, breaking the pavement.

Raven let go of Rachel. She ran to her mother and eventually received a big hug first. Kelson's fallen body gradually faded as blue bright light flashed. Scarlet landed on the ground with a smirk on her face. She placed her hand on her waist and turned to face the evil floating white and blue soul of Kelson. Raven stood next to Scarlet. "So this is what the soul looks like," said Scarlet as she smiled like a stunned little kid. "Om my gosh, Raven!" she started hugging Raven, feeling so exuberant that they got to beat the monster. "We finally get to have our first evil human soul!"

Rachel and her mom just stared at the meister and weapon and chuckled. Raven's eyes widened and felt breathless. He blushed slightly. He didn't know Scarlet can be so cute when she's very happy. "I know," he said. This time, his voice didn't sound harsh. For a moment there, he couldn't believe the daughter of the parents he killed was thanking him. An arrow of guilt shot through his heart, though he tried to drown the pain with the memory that he saved her from death a few days ago. But he thought, "Was that enough compensation?" He slowly removed her arms from him. He glanced at her then his gaze dropped down. He smiled. "Thank you, Scarlet," he said with a little hesitation. He turned away and walked towards the floating soul. Scarlet looked at Raven quizzically. She didn't expect him to say thank you. He's usually too cold to appreciate her kindness. But now she thought she was dead wrong.

"I guess…" Scarlet thought as she watched Raven devour the soul slowly with little noise not like how Soul do it, "Raven can be so heartless… but I have a feeling he's not that bad." She smiled and suddenly felt her body weaken. Her vision started to blur. "After all… he has gone through almost the same thing as me…" She fainted and flopped down on the ground which made a loud thud. "I thought souls taste good but they're actually tasteless," Raven said but when he heard the thud he quickly turned around and shouted, "Scarlet!" He ran to her and knelt down. Rachel and her mom ran to them to help Raven. Raven placed his palm on the back of Scarlet's head.

Rachel's mom knelt down beside Scarlet and placed her hand on Scarlet's neck. "She has a fever," she said. "You're a nurse, Mrs. Boyd, right?" said Raven as she looked at Rachel's mom. Worry was written all over his face though he tried hard not to show it. "Yes, I am. And your meister just needs some rest, medicine, and a lot of water." Raven nodded. He held her Scarlet's back and thighs and lifted her up. Her head rested on his chest. "Her life has been busy for the past days," Raven said as he studied Scarlet's peaceful sleeping face. Mrs. Boyd and her daughter also stood up. "She'd been working really hard since yesterday without getting enough rest." Mrs. Boyd smiled. "I wouldn't be too surprised that she ended up like this," she said. "You had exams today and you still bothered to save my child. I am so proud and thankful of you too."

"Thank you, mister!" said Rachel with a smile. Raven smiled back at the kid. "The name is Raven, Kid." He looked back at her mom. "You also shouldn't be too surprised that we tried to help you, Mrs. Boyd. As students of Shibusen, it is our duty to protect people like you."

"That's right. I'm really sorry that I thought you wanted to take my child away like that monster, Raven."

"You did?" said Raven as he sweat dropped.

Mrs. Boyd nodded with a hesitant smile. "Anyway, it's about to rain so I suggest to you to be kind enough to take your partner home so she can rest already."

"I will." He slowly turned away.

"I can't thank you enough for what you two did. By the way, how did you know my last name?"

"I do a lot of research. Well, bye for now." Raven started to walk away from them and rain started to fall down quietly. Rachel and her mom watched them disappear. They both smiled then decided to go home already.

Licorice turned off the television in the living room of her and Scarlet's apartment when she heard the doorbell rang. "Coming!" she shouted as she ran to the front door. She can clearly hear the sound of thunder and rain falling hard on the ground outside. She unlocked the door and opened it. A silhouette of a person with lightning striking on the tree far behind him made Licorice fall to the floor in shock. The person's eyes glowed in red. He stepped forward and he was clearly wet from the rain. Licorice started to feel relieved when she saw that it was just Raven but when she saw what was in his arms, she quickly stood up.

"What did you do to her?" she screamed at Raven. "Don't tell me you killed her like—?"

"Shut up, will ya?" Raven shouted back, already annoyed that he got wet from the rain with Scarlet. "Can't you see she's still breathing?"

"Oh," Licorice uttered as she watched her master's bosom go up and down. "Sorry, Rey," she said with a hesitant chuckle. "You know, I've been worried about her. You should have at least taken her home earlier if you went on a date."

That got a small chuckle out of Raven. "Are you kidding me?" he said, feeling less angry now as he placed Scarlet on the orange sofa in the living room. "If I were Maka Albarn, I would have given you a Maka Chop already. We certainly did not do that."

"What did you guys do anyway?" Licorice said as she walked into the living room. "Played in the rain? And how was the exam anyway?"

Raven turned to her as he was finished putting Scarlet down. "We just collected our first evil human soul."

"Seriously? Congratulations!" Licorice said she shook Raven's hand abruptly.

Raven glared at her. "You don't have to be so sarcastic, Lico."

"I'm not being sarcastic!" She pouted slightly. "I'm really glad that you guys were able to fight tonight even though you're still worn out because of school."

"Okay," he said as he looked away. "Sheesh." He glanced back at her. "About the test, we managed to pass it but we didn't get to have the highest scores."

"Well, at least you passed even though you haven't been attending school and Scarlet's just a new student after all. It can be understood."

Raven went to the kitchen and moistened with hot water his unused small white towel that was in his black bag. He went back to the living room to clean Scarlet's face. Licorice sat next to Raven on a comfy chair while Raven just knelt beside Scarlet. "So Licorice," Raven said, breaking the silence, "are you really going to stay here already?"

"Of course I will, especially now that I get to be with master again!"

"You don't want to be in the bear and sit on my bookshelf back at Patchwork's Lab anymore?"

Licorice nodded and smiled. "It was fun observing you everyday but everyone gets bored, Rey. So I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize," Raven said without looking at her as he continued to wipe Scarlet's face. "I'm glad that you made that decision."

Licorice frowned. "Did you really hate it having me around?"

"Kind of." Licorice made a fist. "Anyway, I've been willing to ask you something. Were you responsible of Kazune's death?"

Licorice arched an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I have nothing to do with that and Kazune's not even dead yet."

"Oh… Well, I used to think that you killed Kazune because you're angry at me. Wait," he said then a few seconds of silence followed as he looked at Licorice. "Kazune's not dead?"

"Ssshh," uttered Licorice. "You might wake Scarlet up. Yes, your friend's not dead. I've seen him in one of my visions. You'll still get to see him again if you end up being alive after an event. An event that will soon to come and I hope you know what to do."

"Lico, I'm not sure what you're talking about." Raven stood up. "But thank you for letting me know that Kazune's not dead yet. I will have to go home now."

Licorice looked up at Raven. "Christmas Party at the academy is approaching, right?"

"Yeah, it will be on next Monday. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing." Licorice looked away then stroked her master's red-orange wavy hair. "A least you have gained her trust now, Rey. That's an improvement."

Raven glanced at Licorice suspiciously. "Licorice can see the future so I guess something wrong might happen," he though. "When she wakes up," he said to Licorice, "please tell her to rest until tomorrow. She needs it." He started to walk out of the house. He put his black hood on his head and dug his hands into his hoodie's pockets. Licorice sighed in relief, knowing that Raven was gone already.

Licorice POV:

I fear the fact that Raven might be engaged into some kind of trouble. Not only him, but other people too. I've seen it in my mind, the things that will happen. But the memory is vague. There's no wonder Raven couldn't understand me. But at least I warned him. I hope he find out his sister's motives already. I stood up to go the kitchen to prepare my master's dinner and medicine. I also went upstairs to get her dry clothes. When I came back to the living room, my master was sitting up straight already.

Scarlet still looked weak but she smiled at Licorice anyway as she entered the room. "I had a dream, Coco," she said to Licorice. "I dreamt the time Raven and I first met."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Sorry for the delay! I'm actually feeling a lot better now and classes are starting again so I got busy a bit. I was trying to get rid of writer's block. Another thing to be sorry about is that this chapter is just full of my OCs but I hope that's okay. I felt the need to include this chapter before continuing with KidxCrona. Probably 4 or 5 more chapters to go! This story should actually be longer actually but I guess I just have to summarize it somehow. Yosh! Page 5 of 366. Chapter 17 done and I hope it wasn't that bad. I might add a new chapter tomorrow. Thanks to Chabeli05 for the concern and the review again! ^^_


	18. The Type of Blood Desired

_A/N: Thank God it's Friday! :) I can finally focus on this story now. This should be finished this week or next week._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18: Type D<strong>

Even though it was already morning, Raven's room was dark. He didn't like the sun so his windows have thick red curtains that would look good with the black walls of his room. It was Saturday. Yesterday was Friday, the day they had exams in Shibusen and the day he and Scarlet collected their first soul. He didn't have much to do on Saturdays. Scarlet was sick and Licorice is no doubt taking care of her. It would be pointless to play or go on a walk outside under the sun so he just stayed in his room. He knew it was snowing outside. Still, there was the sun but it was being covered by clouds. Raven had been sitting on the cold white tiled-floor in his bathroom for almost one hour already. He refused to come out of his room when it was breakfast time. He only wanted to think of what to do about what his sister said last night. Insanity was probably taking over him as well since he started to drink blood again. He had been taking in a lot of blood tablets. That can't be good, especially when he hasn't eaten any meal yet. But who could blame him. His life is totally messed up. He thought he can finally have some peace but a big problem just had to arrive and ruin almost everything. One mistake and it will all be over.

-Flashback-

Last night, Raven walked on the streets of Death City alone from Licorice and Scarlet's apartment to Patchwork's Lab. It finally stopped raining. Still, he needed to go home already. Otherwise, insanity might get the better of him and he might kill some innocent lives again. But it's not like he enjoys bloodshed in any way. He never did. He hasn't been drinking any decent human blood for almost two months already. He got used to taking in blood tablets instead but his thirst for blood still dwells deeps inside him. He started running when he heard a few people talking from afar. He slowed down when he was finally near to the outskirts of the city. He stared at the ground as he walked. "Two more blocks to go," he said to himself. A familiar voice called his name. He quickly turned around and saw his sister. "What do you want?" he said to Ren sternly.

Ren walked over to her little brother. She smiled as she gazed at his dark green eyes that she always adored. She had been following him ever since he got out from Scarlet's apartment. They were now one meter away from each other. "I just want to know," Ren said, "why did you start running away?" Raven scowled at her. "It's none of your business, Ren. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going home now." He turned around and started to walk. "Home?" Ren said with a smile then she chuckled. Raven stopped walking, annoyed at his sister's laugh. He looked back a little. "Don't you remember, Daisuke? Your real home is in Japan." Raven flinched when he heard his true name. It was late evening already and people in the nearby houses were probably sleeping already since there are no lights in the house. That made Raven feel relieved. If anyone sees him talking with Ren, they might think that they have some connection, and they do, which Raven doesn't want them to know. He felt the need to stay silent. Someone would ask him, "_Cat got you tongue?" _but Ren continued with her profound questions.

"Don't tell me that you decided to forget about your past, little brother," said Ren. Her face turned serious. "That you forgot about mom and dad… about me… about what happened a year ago… and about your true nature." Raven just kept glaring at the ground. He refused to look at his sister. "What is she trying to do?" he thought. "Look, Ayame, I know you're not the same anymore," he finally said and gazed at her. "And no, I did not forget about my past or my true nature." Ren folded her arms. "Well, at least you remember my real name so I can say you're not lying. If you didn't forget about your past or your true nature, then why don't you do what you are supposed to do? What a blood-sucking creature is supposed to do, rather. I saw the blood tablets, Rey. Why would you rather have those when you have all the people in the world to eat? And have you forgotten about what you did in Isfahan? If not, then why does it seem that you're selling yourself to the daughter of the people you…"

"I made a deal," Raven interrupted as he shut his eyes. He couldn't believe himself. He shouldn't tell his sister about Licorice but he had no choice. He had the feeling that his sister won't let him leave if he didn't give her answers. He couldn't let anyone probably lurking in the shadows hear Ren say that he killed the parents of his meister. So he just had to interrupt no matter how rude it was. "What?" Ren said as she stopped folding her arms. "I said I made a deal with someone name Licorice. That person is the servant of Scarlet Vander. She holds my fate. She decides if I'll die or not. She almost killed me one time. But she gave me a second chance. I could have let her kill me but I still needed to see Kazune. Ren, I know Kazune's not dead yet. I found out about the incident in Japan. I somehow also know that there's something wrong with you…" Raven looked down for a few seconds then he looked up at his sister again. "What… what are you planning?"

Ren smiled. "I'm glad you finally talked," she said. "I don't really know about Licorice or how she even became the person who holds your fate. But, I do know that you let yourself become a servant to humans." Raven gritted his teeth at the comment. "You had no choice, right? I too didn't have the choice." Raven arched an eyebrow and said, "What?" Ren sat on a bench. "When we were ambushed by vampires in our house in Japan, mom and dad died. You and I tried to escape but we went to different ways. You got bitten by a vampire but you still managed to escape. That didn't make you a pure blooded vampire though since the vampire who bit you weren't one himself. Anyway, I guess while that happened, I was also running for my life. But I got caught. I had no escape. I had no choice but to… be one of them." Raven's eyes widened. "So that's why…" he started. Ren nodded. "They would have killed me, Raven. Did you want that?" she stood up. Raven looked away and said, "of course not." Ren sighed. "Then you should understand that I didn't want this to happen to me. I didn't… want to become… like this." Raven glanced back at her sister, astonished. "_She didn't?_" he thought. "The annihilation of the Nakatsukasa Clan… was delayed. I was to kill my own relatives." A tear escaped Ren's eye as she faced down. "I needed more time to accept who I am already and the vampires respected that. But there's no way their plan of killing our relatives would change. I finally accepted the inevitable fact that I am no longer the same person. And so the annihilation of our relatives presumed."

"No wonder you tried to kill Sanjuro," said Raven. Ren looked up at him. "That was before I met someone…" she said, "someone named Noah. He found me somewhere in a lonely place and asked why I was crying. Who wouldn't cry after killing so many people reluctantly? Noah told me there's a way for me to change back to normal. I made a deal with him. It's almost like how you made a deal with Licorice. But my life doesn't really depend on our deal, not like yours. He told me about Death Gods." Raven narrowed his eyes. "_Death the Kid_," he thought. "Do you know what type of blood Death Gods have, Raven?" said Ren. "Type D," Raven replied right away. He knew about this when he and Scarlet were studying for the exam. "That's right," Ren said with a smile. "Since I'm a vampire now, I still have blood but my body cannot replenish blood anymore, not like you since you're still half human. If I drink blood from a Shinigami like Death the Kid, I'll be human again. It's simple. It's like what Jesus Christ said, 'those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again.' In other words, those whoever live His gospel shall forever be satisfied. But in my case, if ever I or any vampire drinks Shinigami-kun's blood, I shall never thirst for blood again. I'll never have to drink blood from _disgusting_ humans anymore." Ren used to be very religious like Justin Law so using bible stories as analogy wasn't surprising to Raven already. Raven seriously didn't know her sister's story and he never cared to know. What he only knew before was that Ren suddenly turned into a vampire while he was travelling around the world. It was all thanks to Kazune that he found about this but even Kazune himself didn't know how Ren changed but he have been trying to investigate. And the investigation almost led him to death.

"I'm griefly sorry that I didn't know about this," Raven said. "I also had a lot of hard time. But now I'm trying to live in peace. That doesn't mean I'm trying to forget anything or anyone that's been a part of my life." Ren wiped her tear with her wrist and smiled. "I know… It must be so hard to be you. Why don't you join me, Raven?" Raven looked at his sister quizzically. "What do you mean?" he said. "How about you join me with my plan on devouring Shinigami-kun's blood? You want to become normal again, don't you?" Raven stared at the ground and started to think hard. "_Wait a second_," he thought. A mysterious blast of air passed them. "Ayame, what's the compensation when Noah told the way to become human again?" Ren chuckled a little. "It's nothing much. See, this Noah guy is not your average man. He loves to collect precious things. And he has the Book of Eibon." Raven somehow gasped. But Ren didn't reallyhear it. "He told me about Shinigami-kun's blood," she continued. "But not only that, he told me a lot of things about him that made me like him. I could drink his blood without doing what Noah wants in return but that wouldn't be fair, would it? Anyway, it's not like he'd let me get away with it. So I am obligated to bring Crona, Shinigami-kun's girlfriend, to Noah. He wants her to be in the Book of Eibon. He believes that Crona is worth collecting." She chuckled once again. "He can be so pathetic sometimes. I don't normally understand him but I do like his decision. With Crona on the way, I can never have Shinigami-kun. This was the compensation, Raven."

Raven glared at Ren. Even though he was glad that his sister found a way for them to return to normal, he still thought it was a bad idea. "I can't let you harm Crona or Kid," he said with no hesitation but with determination. "I know there's another way. You can ask Kid your favor then you can get rid of Noah. You wouldn't have to sacrifice Crona anymore." Ren clearly frowned a bit. "I can't do that, Raven," she calmly said. "Noah is like a father to me now. I was like a lost puppy who found a new master. Besides, I already told you, if Crona's present, I can never be with Shinigami-kun the way I want to. I'm not only after his blood. I'm also after his… love." Raven grimaced and gritted his teeth once again. His fangs showed. "You disgust me," Raven said. Harshness was in his voice. "I can't believe people would go that far for love." He folded his arms and looked away. "Well, aren't you the same? You didn't just agree to Licorice's deal just because you didn't want her to take your life. But you also agreed to it because you have feelings for Scarlet."

"Oh, please," he looked at Ren lazily. "I wouldn't let myself have special feelings for that girl. And it's not like Licorice would let me. I shouldn't fall in love with Scarlet. That's a part of the deal too and I'm not even sure why. But who cares? I don't give a damn about silly relationships." He looked away again, his arms still folded. Ren smiled. "You're stubborn as always. Well, it's getting really late already and they say it will snow later. I'll be waiting for you to join me until Sunday only. I'm not going to change my mind, Raven." She turned around and started to walk away. "And now that you know about my plan, you can't tell it to anyone. 'Cause if you do that, I'll tell Scarlet Vander the _truth_."

Raven stood still there for a few more minutes as he watched his sister disappear. "This is harder than I thought it would be after all," he thought. Raven wasn't the guy who's good with decisions. He continued to walk back home.

-Back to present-

Crona knocked on the door of the Patchwork's Lab. Marie opened the door. "G-good morning, Marie-sensei," said Crona. "Oh, Crona!" exclaimed Marie as she started hugging Crona. "I'm glad you came." Crona managed to smile even though her face is being squished. "I heard Scarlet's sick.," she said. Marie took her hand and led her inside the house. "Yep, that's why I asked you to come here. Maybe you can help me prepare food for her that will make her feel better. Raven's feeling weird too so he can't help us." Crona wondered why. She cocked her head to the right in little confusion. "Is he sick too?" she asked. They were in the kitchen already. Before, there was no kitchen in the house. "I'm not sure, Crona," Marie said as she started picking up materials to be used for cooking. "Maybe you can check him out." Crona flinched. "Uhm, uh… I don't really know how to deal with Raven, sensei…" Marie started pushing Crona gently out of the kitchen. "It's okay, Crona," Marie said. She sounded optimistic. "Raven doesn't bite. Just ask him what's wrong with him so we can help him too." Crona nodded obediently. She didn't want to do it. She's not good friends with Raven yet but she tried to muster up courage and she bravely walked upstairs to Raven's room. She knocked on the door. "Raven… It's me, Crona. R-remember? I just want to know what's wrong with…" she turned the knob and was surprised that the door opened.

Crona almost fell to the ground. She stood properly and covered her face with her hands and started apologizing. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to come in without permission." Silence surrounded her. She gazed around, saw Raven's stuffs that he doesn't want people to see (e.g. his vampire coffin, ragdolls, papers full of news information, etc.). It made her even more surprised that it was so dark in there. She noticed an open door. "That must be the bathroom," she thought. She nervously walked over to it. It was also dark inside. To her astonishment, she saw Raven looking miserable on the floor. He didn't even bother to look back at her who was covering her mouth. Even though he still looked fresh, probably because he just took a bath, he looked like an abandoned street person that had a lot of mishap. And Crona started to think that Raven was close to it. She saw the wrappers of blood tablets though she didn't recognize them. She has never seen them before. She was too terrified to louden her shaky voice. Still she said, "Raven?"

(To Be Continued)

* * *

><p><em>AN: This was a bit rushed. (Time: 11 p.m - 2:16 a.m.) But atleast now we know Ren's motives. ^^ I think I forgot one thing. The basketball game. I'm not good with basketball like Maka. Tt would be hard for me to narrate about the game so I skipped it. Anyway, we'll soon find out who won. Check out my new fan art KidxCrona in my dA if you want. It's not that great but they still think it's adorable. =.= Gonna update later after I take a long sleep, breakfast and other stuff. Belated Happy 3 Kings Day!_


	19. Depression Causes Drug Abuse

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19: Endure<strong>

-Saturday Morning-

"Raven?" Crona said in a small hesitant voice as she placed her hand on her mouth. She just stood there on the tiled floor near the door with _no footwear_, looking down at Raven who didn't even bother to look up at her. He looked paler than he already was, almost as pale as the snow outside. He was just wearing one of his plain white T-shirts with black jogging pants.

"Leave me alone," said Raven as he slowly looked away from Crona. He sounded calm but there was something in his voice that sent shiver down Crona's spine. His back leaned on the green wall behind him, his hands rested and his legs were stretched out on the floor. Five wrappers of blood tablets were still on the floor next to him. "Great," he thought as he narrowed his eyes. "I forgot to lock the damn door again."

Crona held her other hand and placed them on her chest. She started to walk closer to Raven. "I-I just wanted to _see_ if you're okay." That day, she was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, an unbuttoned black jacket with a white sleeveless top underneath it with gray skull patterns.

"Don't come near me!" Raven roared as he faced down, shut his eyes, gritted his teeth and punched the floor which made Crona flinch and gasp a little. She took a deep breath and tried hard not to stammer. "Raven, I'm not leaving you," she gently said which made Raven open his eyes and wonder. Still, he didn't look back at her.

"You've seen enough," said Raven as Crona slowly sat in fetal position near him. His voice became calm again. Crona watched him with gloomy eyes. It's like she sees herself in him. "I can't just leave you like this," she said weakly. She tried to reach out one of the wrappers. Raven glared at her. He hated it when people took pity on him. "You already came inside without my permission. Please, just leave already."

"The blood tablets you take are specially made for you, aren't they?" Crona said, trying to be friendly, ignoring what Raven said. She studied the wrapper on her hand. "It doesn't really matter," Raven replied coldly. "I'm just curious. If Kid was here, I'd be asking him about this but he's busy with some things now." Raven looked away and said, "What do I care?" That made Crona smile somehow. "Kid-kun once said that Professor Stein's the only person who makes blood tablets. I guess he cares for you that much."

Raven just kept looking away. He knew Crona was right but it was of little significance to him. "I'm nothing more than a hindrance to him," he said nonchalantly without looking at Crona. "That's what I always thought."

"You really do remind me of Stein Junior." Raven quickly turned to her and glanced at her quizzically. Crona just kept her eyes on the floor with a little smile on her face. She can somehow see her reflection on the floor. "When we first met in your room, he told me how much he hated Stein for creating him. Professor used to care a lot for him. But he started to neglect him. That made junior feel like a burden too."

Raven just stared at Crona in wonder. His heart finally softened a bit. He faced down, closed his eyes once again and smiled. "Stein probably treated junior like that because he was also neglected by his creator when he was young. Maybe he wanted someone to feel the same. Junior and I might have some similarities but we're still different, Crona-san. I wasn't created the way he was created. And he's not a half vampire like me. Plus, I wouldn't try to kill myself like what he did."

Crona placed down the wrapper she was holding on the floor. "Then don't you think drug abuse is a way of killing yourself?" Raven's smile faded. "Even though you're a vampire, you're still a human," Crona continued, "so you can still die like a human, right?" Raven was quiet for a moment. "Of course," he finally said. "I wasn't trying to kill myself, okay?" He suddenly remembered Licorice being the one who decides if he dies or not. "Anyway, I won't die that easily."

"What do you mean?" Crona asked. "You don't have to know," replied Raven as he looked away again. "Anyway, you can leave now." Crona raised her hand in an attempt to reach out for Raven but stopped when he interrupted. "But—"she started. "I'm sorry," Raven said. "I need some time to be alone. I know… I should be helping you and Marie downstairs. But I'm really not in the mood. Please tell Scarlet to get well soon."

Crona just closed her eyes and smiled at Raven then patted his head. "You're going to be a great weapon to your meister." Raven turned to her as his eyes widened. "Don't expect too much," he said as he looked down and folded his arms. Crona sweat dropped then she finally stood up. "You should get well soon too. You don't want to miss the party on Monday." She turned around and started to walk away. "Well, bye for now."

"I don't even like parties," whispered Raven to himself when Crona was out of his room already. He faced down and picked up his glasses. "The party," he gasped. His sister's words came to his mind again. _"With Crona on the way, I can never have Shinigami-kun." _He slowly stood up as he wore his eyeglasses. He couldn't let Ren do what she planned, especially now that he understood why Noah wanted to have Crona in his book. "I guess I have no choice but to attend after all."

-Saturday Late Afternoon-

Streets of Death City that were so desolate last night now have grown throng. Citizens were simply bursting with spirits, merriment and audacity. Children were brawling on the streets as they savored the beauty of snow surrounding them. Today there was a Christmas Festival in the city whereupon great clamor of the crowd almost everywhere arose for the sake of economic activity. But this time of the year is the time for giving or sharing blessings and unconditional love, not necessarily the time of getting money but it was, as usual, inevitable. Every year, this kind of festival happen in the city and it was Crona's first time to experience which was so much to her enjoyment especially now that the person who gave her life was no more alive. Medusa may have given her the chance to live but the people with her _now_ were the ones who made her feel more alive than ever, especially Maka and Kid.

Crona looked to her right and smiled at her friends, Maka, Soul, Ragnarok, Patty, Kid, Liz and Black Star. Some of them wore jackets, some were coats. They had been laughing ever since they saw Kid that afternoon. Black Star dared him to wear only one of his skull rings and Soul dared him to wear a black sweater that only had the word "DEATH" printed vertically in white color on the side of _one_ of the sleeves only. This totally pissed Kid off but it was his punishment for losing with his team yesterday in their basketball game. He had been facing down all the way.

"Hey, Kid," said Black Star, "you should have done better yesterday if you didn't want this to happen! Bahahaha!" Kid twitched in annoyance. He scowled at Black Star. "I'm not an idiot, Black Star," he finally spoke after being so inarticulate. "Yeah, it's not Kid's fault that we lost!" snarled Patty as she turned to Black Star and made fists. Maka sweat dropped. "I can't believe you did this to Kid to avenge me, Soul," she whispered to Soul who just smiled. They were now walking behind the others while Crona was walking next to Kid already, trying to cheer him up, and Ragnarok was walking between Black Star and Patty. They couldn't hear them though because of the noise of people around them.

"Getting depressed for a stupid test when your weapon's a death scythe already?" Soul said, sounding sarcastic. "Come on, Maka. For a smart girl like you, you should think of what's more important. You know how I hate you when you're depressed over uncool matters so I just had to do something." Maka looked at Soul lazily. "I guess you're right. But don't you think you guys went overboard?" She looked at Kid who still looked weak because of all the asymmetry on his body but atleast now he was smiling because of Crona. "It's only for twenty four hours," replied Soul as he closed his eyes and placed his palms on the back of his head. "It's not like he's going to die. Not when Crona's there." Maka managed to chuckle. She realized she actually agrees with Soul.

Ren had gone out of her room. It was Saturday so she had been sleeping for the whole time there was still sunlight outside and she just woke up. She staggered in the dark hallway leading downstairs as she panted really hard; her feat bare and her dark hair falling down her shoulders, streaming in the wind as she fled down the stairs, the lighted candle sputtering in one hand while her other hand she pulled up her white gown from her ankles. When she was on the stairs already, the candle went out as a murderous wind whirled around her, whistling and whining, smelling now of the sea that wasn't too far from the house.

Ren was unaware that someone was walking towards her since she just kept looking down, her eyes half lidded. The hell in her mind made her forgot to use her night vision. Her head was completely aching and she was extremely in need of the red fluid that is vital to bodily function. She found herself bumping onto Noah's chest which almost made her fall but fortunately, Noah caught her in his arms but the candle she was holding fell. She recognized Noah's scent but she only pound her fist on his chest, clutched Noah's sleeve, closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, tried to calm herself as tears started to run down her face. "I… I can't take it anymore," she whispered to Noah. "I need Shinigami-kun now."

Noah sighed. He could feel Ren was trembling. "Patience, little one," he said calmly. "Patience," he repeated. "Endure the pain for now. It won't be long until you get your hands on him already." He raised her chin with his hand and made her look into his eyes even though they can hardly be seen because of the darkness surrounding them. "Exhausted, bitter, and miserable is the way that many people feel when they wake up in the morning to get ready for work said John Galsworthy. I assume that your brother felt the same when he woke up this morning because of all the things you said to him last night. Do you wish to be weak like him?"

Ren shook her head weakly as she tried to look into Noah's eyes with her night vision. "Don't tell me you're going to recklessly ruin our plan just because of your hunger." Ren shook her head again, but this time it was faster. "No, I won't," she said sternly. "Good then. Just don't forget the plan and most importantly, don't forget to bring Crona to me."

Ren narrowed her eyes then she slowly nodded which made Noah smile. Suddenly, Gopher came into the house. "Master Noah, I'm back," he said. He opened the lights and he was shocked when he saw Ren and Noah on the stairs, Ren holding onto Noah, looking down at him with her solemn eyes, Noah looking back, gazing down at him nonchalantly. "Wh-what's going on?" he asked.

A smile formed on Noah's face. "Nothing much, Gopher," he said. "Welcome back." Gopher glanced at them quizzically. "Thanks. Is Ren sick?" Noah stared at Ren then returned his gaze at Gopher. "Most likely," he said. "Oh," uttered his servant in understanding. "Come here," said Noah which made Gopher flinch a little. He nervously started to walk on the stairs towards Noah and Ren. Noah faced to Gopher and grabbed his collar, pulled him up and threw him to Ren who quickly wrapped her arms around Gopher's neck and started sucking his blood from it. "Sorry, Gopher," she thought. Gopher winced and shrieked. Noah dug his hands in his pockets and continued walking upstairs, leaving Gopher and Ren behind. "Wait, master!" shouted Gopher but he gradually fainted and Noah just ignored him.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I would have finished this earlier if it weren't for other things. :| This was getting long so I had to put the continuation on a new chapter. And if I finish that chapter later or tomorrow, I might update soon._


	20. Danger, Promise and Realization

_A/N: Wow. It's been a long time since I updated, I know. I have been busy with school and drawing. ^^' I made 2 KidxCrona fan arts. Check them out in my deviantArt if you want. I currently have Rhinorrhea again but that won't stop me from adding new chapters this weekend! You might want to listen to this songs while reading the part about Kid and Crona - May I by Trading Yesterday and Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus That songs really inspire me. ^^_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20: Fall<strong>

_Saturday Night - Tsubaki_

The Amtrak train rattled along the track. Tsubaki rested her left lower arm on the open window. The gentle breeze wafted along the sound of the train to her ears. Houses with their tile roofs loomed from far away against the wild sky murky with clouds and sinister-looking moon that grinned and shined brightly enough to make Tsubaki's eyes half-lidded as she gazed at it for a few seconds. She finally closed her eyes, slipped her lower arm back to her lap as she faced down, sighed lightly and smiled.

"I'm finally going back to Death City already," Tsubaki thought. "Maybe I should have asked my friends how they've been doing while I was gone but I had to give my full attention to the safety of my family. I hope they'll be fine now without me." She glanced at her right.

"Don't worry about us, Tsubaki," said Sanjuro yesterday. He was standing at the porch of their house with Tsubaki's mom next to him. "We'll be okay." He smiled and waved goodbye at Tsubaki who was about to leave her hometown already with one violet luggage and one blue back pack. She paused from thinking about yesterday. Breathless, she glanced at the window and saw Gopher flying with his Bullet Wings outside the window, trying to catch up with the train that Tsubaki was riding on. She couldn't tell exactly if it was Gopher so she looked at him immensely without putting her head too much out of the window. The wind with some snow flakes made her hair fly around and covered her face which made her vision vague. She struggled to take them off of her face but suddenly, someone did it for her but it caused her to be pulled out of the train as a hand covered her mouth. Her eyes widened.

_- At the same time: Ren and Wrath (Noah) -_

Ren entered the dark room with a comfort chair in front of a burning fireplace. The scent and warmth of the room soothed her. The colors of the flames made her eyes twitched. She quickly looked away from it, glanced at the person on the chair and walked closer to him. "Noah-sama," she weakly said.

"What is it?" Noah replied solemnly without looking back at her.

"I… I just want to thank you for everything."

A smile formed on Noah's face. "You're welcome, Ren, but a thank you won't be enough as compensation to what I have done for you."

Ren stared at the floor with serious eyes. "I know," she sternly said.

"I bet you're wondering where your _dinner_ went to."

Ren looked up again at Noah. She was only standing a few feet away from away from him and all she could see was his hair, clothes and moving mouth as he talked. "Yes," she replied. "Yes, I did."

Noah just continued to smile. "Well, after he regained his strength, I sent him to ambush Tsubaki Nakatsukasa."

Ren's eyes widened and felt her body stiffened. "Wh-what do you mean?" she said. Fear was in her voice. "Don't tell me she's on her way back to Death City already!"

Noah chuckled a bit. "Okay, then, I won't tell you," he said.

Ren practically groaned. "I can't accept this!"

"Relax. That's exactly why I sent Gopher to slow her down."

"But what if he doesn't? What if he fails to do so?"

"You really should trust Gopher more, Ren. His job right now is pretty easy so there's no way he'll fail. Anyway, it's not like he has to kill Tsubaki but I told him he could, he should."

Fear finally left Ren and she gradually smirked. The upper part of her face was shadowed by darkness.

_- Saturday Night: Back to Tsubaki and Gopher -_

"It really is Gopher!" Tsubaki thought as she was being lifted off from the ground about five meters. She looked to her left and saw that the train continued to move on in high speed without her. She glared at Gopher for this but deep inside, she was relieved that the passengers won't get involved with the trouble she was facing. She pushed Gopher away from her as hard as she can which sent her falling almost to the ground. She quickly changed to a Chain Scythe and threw herself on a tree. The tip of the blade pierced a branch of the tree. She changed back to human again and let herself fall to the ground which was just a few feet away from her already. She looked up and still saw Gopher with the dark sky behind him. She started running on the snowy land as Gopher attempted to shoot her numerous times with small bullet-like projectiles, similar to a machine gun's bullets, coming from his Bullet Wings. "I don't know why you're doing this to me," she shouted at Gopher as she was running, "but you should know that I won't step back from this!" She turned around while she transformed her hair into a chain scythe and started to attack Gopher back.

_Saturday Night – Kid and Crona_

Somewhere in Death City, there was an ice skating rink. Death the Kid have invited Crona to go ice skating with him while their other friends went… elsewhere. It was late evening already and it surprised Kid and Crona that there was no one on or around the ice rink. Leafless trees and street lights surrounded the rink and snow kept falling down. The pinkette and reaper stood there in front of the rink, shocked.

Kid smiled. "There were people here a while ago but they probably went home already since it's late or they're probably at the food stands like Soul and the others," he told Crona.

Crona smiled back. Her level of confusion decreased. "I see," she replied.

Kid held Crona's hand as he pointed a black bench a little far away from them. . "Come on, Crona, we can put on our ice skates there!" he said. Their other hand was holding their ice skates. Crona's ice skates were white and Kid's were black. "O-okay," was all Crona could say. She let herself be dragged by Kid to the nearby bench. They both sat down next to each other on the bench and Kid started to take off his rubber shoes to replace them with his ice skates. Crona just looked at him. She didn't know how to deal with this. When Kid was done putting on his ice skates, he glanced at Crona who was now looking at her ice skates on the ground. He gave her a quizzical look. "Crona?" he said. Crona quickly faced him. "Are you okay?"

Crona smiled. "I'm okay, Kid," she said. "It's just that I don't know how I'll be able to stand with those shoes with blades sticking out of them." Kid sweatdropped as he looked at Crona. "Just as expected," he thought. "This should be fun." A smile tugged at his mouth. "Don't worry, Crona," he reassured her, "it's not that hard." He stood up, knelt down in front of Crona, much to _her_ surprise. "Anyway," he said as he held Crona's left foot and started to take off her sheepskin brown boots, "even if you fall down, I'll catch you." Crona can't help but blush as she looked down at Kid who didn't look back and just focused on replacing her boots with her ice skates. Her feet were now bare and the cold wind that passed them made it feel frozen for a second until Kid held her feet again with his warm hands. He gently placed each of them inside her ice skates then started tying the laces.

When it was all done, Kid stood up, smiled down at his girl and gave her a hand. Crona looked at his hand, hesitated but held it anyway. Kid pulled her up. He could feel Crona shivering a little. Crona tried to stand up and walk with the ice skates now on her feet as he held Kid's lower arms as support but still, she staggered and nearly fell. Fortunately, Kid caught her in his arms and he almost lost his balance too but he was Kid, expert in balancing so he quickly stood up firmly with Crona so close to him, holding his collar and his sleeves of his coat on his upper arm, frightened and at the same time, relieved that she didn't fall.

_I will never let you fall  
>I'll stand up with you forever<br>I'll be there for you through it all  
>Even if saving you sends me to heaven <em>

"See, I told you I'll catch you," Kid whispered in her ears with a playful smile. "Th-thank you, Kid," Crona replied as she just stared at the ground, avoiding any eye contact with him. Kid held her hand that was on his chest then he started leading her to the rink slowly.

_Saturday Night – Scarlet and Marie_

Scarlet knocked on the front door of the Patchwork's Lab. She has fully recovered from her cold with the help of Licorice, Raven, Marie and Crona. Marie opened the door and a grin quickly formed on her face as she laid her eyes on Scarlet.

"Good evening, Mrs. Ste—," greeted Scarlet.

Marie hugged Scarlet tight like what she does to Raven. "Scarlet, are you feeling better now?" she ranted. She was surprised to see Scarlet off of her bed back in their apartment already.

"Y-yes, ma'am," Scarlet managed to say.

"I'm so glad you are! Raven and I were worried sick!"

Scarlet gave her a quizzical look. "You were?" she said.

"Of course we were, especially Raven! He hasn't been eating any food all day, worrying about some things he wouldn't tell us and about you." Marie looked worried.

Scarlet looked away with a reddening face. "I never thought Raven would care that much," she said then looked at Marie again. "Thank you for the concern, sensei. And I really appreciated the Seattle Salmon Chowder Soup you gave me this morning."

Marie smiled. "My pleasure, dear! I learned it back in our home in Oceania."

Scarlet tried to see the open door behind Marie. "It would be nice if you teach me how to make it someday."

Marie put her hands together and diamonds sparkled in her eyes as she raised her head closer to Scarlet. "I'll be glad to!" she said.

"But now, may I ask, is Raven around?" she said, stepping back a little from Marie.

Marie turned back to normal. She closed her eyes and started to think hard. "I remember he said a while ago that he'll be going out to get some fresh air."

"Oh."

"Do you need to talk to him?"

"Uhm, yes. I'd like to say sorry to him for making him worried."

Marie smiled. "I think Raven's totally fine with it and will be happy as me to see that you're fine now. After all, you made him proud of what you did last night. He's probably somewhere near the Hook Cemetery. He always hangs out there by himself at a time like this." Marie looked away.

"By himself?" Scarlet thought.

"I'll never understand that kid," Marie said in a little voice then looked back at Scarlet. "Anyway, you might find him there, Scarlet."

"He must be digging up graves there or he's just really a loner," said Scarlet as she faced down. Marie laughed nervously. Scarlet gave Marie a serious look. "Thank you, Marie-sensei," Scarlet said as she bowed. "I guess I'll just have to go there."

"Don't mention it." ^_^

"Well, bye for now." Scarlet smiled, turned around and started to walk away.

"Goodbye, Scarlet. Do take care and please tell Raven to come because it's really late already.

"I will," Scarlet said without looking back at Marie. "I wonder what's up with Raven," Scarlet thought as she was walking, looking at the ground with gloomy eyes. "He's definitely hiding something since sensei said he's worried about something that he doesn't tell them."

_Saturday Night – Back to Kid and Crona_

Kid kept chuckling as he taught Crona how to ice skate. His laugh was breaking the silence in the place. They were on the middle of the rink. Crona practically couldn't stand up if she didn't hold onto Kid. She nervously moved around. "I-I don't know how to deal with this!" Crona said. Her legs were shaking. "But you're getting better at it, Crona," said Kid. Crona looked into Kid's eyes. "You really think so?" she said. Kid smiled and nodded. "Yes."

Kid held Crona's hands, stepped back from Crona on the ice to test if she can stand up. "Don't…!" Crona screamed, still frightened that she would fall when Kid's far from her. "You'll never learn if you don't try, Crona," said Kid. "But I still can't stand like this!" She lost her balance. "Ugh," uttered Kid as his eyes widened and he quickly pulled her to him, wrapped his arms around her, placed her on top of him as they fell on the surface of the ice.

_Now that I'm strong I have figured out  
>How this world turns cold<br>It breaks through my soul and I know  
>I'll find deep inside me<br>I can be the one_

It happened so fast and the ice started to crack but it was too quiet for them to notice. Tears started to leak out from Crona's closed eyes. She was gripping Kid's cloth on his chest while her left arm was just stretched out between her and Kid whose left hand was holding Crona's head and right hand holding her right shoulder. Kid grunted because of the pain. His back hit the ice hard especially Crona was on him. He couldn't let Crona get hurt. "K-Kid…?" Crona uttered weakly as she whimpered and opened her eyes. She just realized Kid was under her. She looked up at him. He was still closing his eyes and grimacing. "I'm—I'm sorry," said Crona which calmed Kid.

_All I want is to keep you safe from the cold...  
>to give you all that your heart needs the most. <em>

Kid slowly opened his eyes and sighed in relief. "Thank God, you're safe," he said as he smiled. "B-but…! How about you?" said Crona. Worry was written all over face. She still didn't have the strength to stand up, especially because Kid was still holding her which made her feel rigid. She never experienced being on top of him before. "Worry not about me, Crona. I'm a Shinigami after all. If I were a normal human, my back bone would have crumpled especially because you're so heavy. For a sexy girl like you, you sure are heavy, Crona," Kid teased which annoyed her more but it made Crona laugh at the same time. "I-I'm not sexy!" Crona shouted as she closed her eyes with a blush on her face. Kid chuckled despite that his body still felt pain. "You don't have to be ashamed about it, Crona," he said. "I am not ashamed," she said as she looked away. "I just don't deserve to be called like that."

_Seasons are changing and waves are crashing and  
>Stars are falling all for us<br>Days grow longer and nights grow shorter  
>I can show you I'll be the one<em>

"Sure you do because it's true, said Kid. He stared at the sky and falling snow above them and he started stroking the pinkette's soft and silky hair which made her twitch and look up at him again. She saw he was smiling. She always loved it when he caresses her hair. It makes her all warm and fuzzy inside. "I wish I could hold you like this forever," Kid gently said. "But nothing lasts forever. So let's just hold on and be strong as long as we can." Crona showed a sad smile. "Yeah…," she said as she closed her eyes. They could hear each others' breath.

_All that's made me  
>Is all worth trading<br>just to have one moment with you.  
>So I will let go<br>all that I know  
>knowing that you're here with me.<em>

_For your love is changing me._

"Kid?" Crona said, sounding like a child. "Hmm?" uttered Kid who was still looking up at the stars above them. Snowflakes kept falling down on them. It was as if the sweet sound of a piano playing Paper Moon slowly surrounded them. "Are you my… _boyfriend?_" Crona asked which stunned Kid. He looked down at her. "That's right… I haven't asked Crona yet if I can be her boyfriend but does it really matter?" he thought as he looked at the pinkette's pale face and shimmering beautiful sky blue eyes. "It's obvious already. Still, she does have the right to know for sure." He felt guilty for forgetting about something important.

_May I hold you  
>as you fall to sleep,<br>when the world is closing in  
>and you can't breathe.<br>May I love you.  
>May I be your shield.<br>When no one can be found  
>may I lay you down. <em>

"You can say that…" He flipped them and he was now the one on top of her. Crona looked up with wide eyes at his handsome face, his bangs almost touching her forehead. His hands were pressed down beside Crona's shoulders. "… As long as you'll be with me _eternally_," continued Kid. He emphasized 'eternally' because he isn't the guy who's like Spirit Albarn. He wasn't the guy who would try to cheat. He was the guy that if he falls in love with someone, he'll love that someone forever with great loyalty. He knew what he did was awkward and probably scared Crona but he looked at her solemnly. He wanted to see her face fully as she would reply to him.

_I can see when the lights start to fade,  
>the day is done and your smile has gone away. <em>

"That stare…," Crona said as she looked deeply at his honey-colored eyes. "… Is just like the first time I met you… your stern look and cold voice… always frightened me before… but now… why don't I feel the same anymore… why… do I even like it now? Is it because someone's actually being serious about loving me forever? Isn't forever such a long time, Kid?" She felt pain in every word she let out making her look confused and anxious. Kid smiled sweetly to calm her. His solemn gaze at her turned soft. His eyes became half-lidded. "It's not like there's any other entity who I would try to love and who would live longer than normal. It's only you, Crona." He closed his eyes. "Only you," he repeated as his voice faded with the cold wind passing them which made Crona shiver at the same time feel warm. "Then I shall forever love you," Crona finally said after a moment of silence, closing her eyes and smiling. He felt Kid's cold clean breath on her face.

"What the f*ck?" said Soul in a little voice.

Maka, Black Star, Soul, Ragnarok, Liz and Patty stood like statues in front of the skating rink with their jaws almost falling to the ground and eyes widening at the sight of Kid on top of Crona on the cracking ice.

"YAAAAHHOOOO!" screamed Black Star suddenly with enthusiasm as he threw his hands into the air. His friends glared at him for being noisy. Crona and Kid quickly glanced at their friends, bewildered and nervous. "I knew it!" said Black Star then he grinned. "I knew you guys try to make out once in a while!" His friends sweatdropped. Ragnarok facepalmed himself. "I'm seriously gonna beat up that shinigami someday." Liz and Patty scowled at him.

Kid panicked. "It-It's not what it looks like!" he shouted at Black Star as he quickly stood up. Crona just sat up on the ice, faced down with a reddening face, embarrassed. Black Star started laughing like a boss. Maka closed her eyes and sighed at Black Star's annoyance. "So much for that," she said, "suffice it to say that that Tsubaki is on her way back to Death City." Crona looked up at Maka, shocked. Kid just smiled as he placed his hands on his waist. "That's great!" he said. "She'll get to join the academy's Christmas Party."

"You bet she will!" Black Star said then smirked.

"Crona, I bought a dress for you!" Maka said and grinned at Crona who sweat dropped. "You didn't have to do that, Maka," she replied. She was still sitting on the ice, unable to stand up. "Why not? It's my Christmas present for you. I'll give it to you tomorrow!" Crona smiled hesitantly. "A-alright." Then her smile faded as she faced down. "I don't even believe in Christmas," she said in a little voice but loud enough for Kid to hear. "You don't have to," said Kid. "December 25 isn't Christ's birthday anyway. No one knows for sure." Crona just looked up at him like a mere student who just got taught by her teacher.

"Come on, Crona, we're going home!" Ragnarok said angrily as he turned around and started to walk away. "R-Ragnarok, wait!" shouted Crona as she tried to stand up. Kid helped her by holding up her arms. "Easy now," he said. "You don't want to fall again." Crona looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, thanks."

_Saturday Night – Scarlet and Raven_

Scarlet walked on the outskirts of Death City. She wasn't quite familiar with the place yet so she felt a little nervous. She just kept hugging herself. She was starting to feel the presence of the eerie atmosphere of Hook Cemetery not far from her anymore but she didn't dare to look at it yet. She kept her eyes on the ground, watching her steps. Some dogs were howling from far away which made her even more nervous than she already was. "Of all the places he can hang out by himself, why near the cemetery?" Scarlet thought angrily but her anger left her when she looked up and saw Raven standing by a tree near the gate of the cemetery. "Raven!" She shouted at him. "What are you doing here all by yourself?" She started running towards him.

"Fool," Raven said in a little stern voice. He squinted at her, facing down, gritting his teeth, panting; one hand on the tree and the other hand on his chest. "Are you alright?" Scarlet said. She was standing in front of Raven now. "You look like you're asphyxiated or something." She gazed at the surrounding. Raven glared at him. "Leave while you still can," he hissed. Scarlet looked at him. "Wh-what? Don't tell me to leave when I just got here!" She gestured, made fists and glared at Raven.

Raven closed his eyes. "I said leave!" he shouted at Scarlet which made her flinch and utter, "Ugh." She started to feel scared. Her shaky eyes looked at him and she stepped back. "I don't understand," she said weakly. "I know you're probably angry at me because I made you worried but you don't have to be this cruel!" Raven opened his eyes. "It's… not about that, Scarlet," he managed to say despite that the evil in him was eating him up already. "It's not about you… it's about me." Scarlet gave him a quizzical look. "What about you?"

"I'm a… monster."

"Nice joke and acting skills, Raven," Scarlet said with a smirk on her face. "You nearly got me! Could you stop playing around? Your mom's waiting for y—."

Scarlet's words were cut when Raven suddenly held her shoulders and pulled her to him.

"R-raven?" Scarlet said nervously. Her hazel eyes widened. Raven's head was now on her shoulder which made her shiver. He bit her neck which made Scarlet shut her eyes and scream, "Aghhhh!" She pierced Raven's back with her nails as the pain was sent throughout her body. She felt weak all of the sudden, she couldn't even push her partner away. "Raven's a… vampire?" was all she could say before she fainted.

* * *

><p><em>AN: To make it up for the days I haven't been updating, I made this extra long and it would have been longer if I included what happens the next day. Well, I guess I'll just do it tomorrow since it's also Sunday. Haha. So now Scarlet knows Raven's true identity, Tsubaki is currently fighting with Gopher without a meister, and Kid & Crona are officially boyfriend & girlfriend. Yipee~ I've been working on this chapter since last night and it wasn't that hard to make but I wonder why I took so long, probably because I was also being distracted by awesome pictures in tumblr. I found a nice KidxCrona picture and I posted it on the FB page I created for KxC. Well, that's all for now. I'll definitely update tomorrow~!_

.


	21. Back Into Her Partner's Arms

_A/N: Do I really have to put flowery words to a story? Maybe I should just go directly to the point. This chapter will be short and this should have been included in chapter 20 but that chapter was getting really long._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21: Number One<strong>

_Sunday Morning - At the Death Room_

"Azusa said she's somewhere in Chicago," said Lord Death. "I hope you'll be able to find her there on your own."

"You can count on me, boss!" said Black Star as he pointed at himself with his thumb and he smirked.

Crona and Ragnarok were walking in the hallways of Shibusen. There were only a few people in the academy since it was Sunday and it was still morning.

Ragnarok yawned. "Why are we here on a Sunday again?" he said lazily.

"We're going to do the same thing as Maka, Soul, Black Star and Ren did, Ragnarok," Crona replied calmly as they walked.

"You mean… the special training?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Yes. And the training is meant for us to strengthen our bond and match our wavelengths."

Ragnarok closed his eyes even while walking. "I don't see the necessity in that. We're already working efficiently."

"Even so, in case something goes wrong today or any other day, we will need extra strength."

Ragnarok opened his eyes and he looked at Crona. "You may be right. So is the mad scientist going to be with us today?"

"Apparently he will."

"That reminds me… Do you still remember what it felt like when he separated us?"

Crona thought for a second. "No. It was probably painful so I'd rather not remember. How about you, do you still remember?"

"Same as you, I don't remember." He glared. "But who cares?" he shouted angrily. "Speaking of remembrance, I still can't forget that you and reaper boy were trying to make out in public!" Crona flinched and her hair bristled. "Was it even just a make out or were you to trying to have se—"

Ragnarok's didn't get to finish his sentence when Crona started punching him.

"Shut up!" screamed Crona as she closed her eyes.

"Hey, cut that out!" Ragnarok shouted, squinting at Crona, blocking her punches with his palms.

"I'm not sure what that word that starts with S really means but I'm certain that it wasn't what we were going to do! Don't make stupid assumptions!"

"Alright, alright! Just stop it already. Sheesh." Crona finally calmed down. "You hit like a girl. You're weak!"

"But I am a girl." She emphasized 'I am'. "The only thing that made me act and look more like a boy is because you were still in me."

"I know that, bitch."

"Really?" Crona said sarcastically, looking away.

Few seconds later, Ren encountered them. She came from a different hallway and was shocked to see them. Her eyes widened.

"Ugh," Crona uttered as she sweat dropped. "G-good morning, Ren-san!" Ragnarok just looked bored.

"Good morning too," said Ren as she smiled. "What brings you two here?"

"We're just going to have a special training."

"Oh, I see."

"Hey, Ren," Ragnarok finally said and grinned, "you should have come with us yesterday to the festival. It was a blast!"

"I'm sorry for that. Liz invited me but I was really tired yesterday from all the studying for the test last Friday."

"Too bad. You could have seen Kid and Crona trying to make out."

Crona turned to Ragnarok quick. "Why are you telling that to her?" she shouted and closed her hands, embarrassed. "We already told you, that wasn't what we're doing!" Ren just sweat dropped and laughed hesitantly.

"It's okay, Crona-san. I already know that you and Kid are in a relationship so that should be normal."

Crona faced down. "But we honestly didn't try to make out or anything," she weakly said.

"True or not, there's nothing to be embarrassed about it. Anyway, I've been willing to tell you something ever since we met here."

Ragnarok and Crona turned serious. "What is it?" Ragnarok asked sternly.

Ren bit her lip, looked at them solemnly and said, "Tsubaki was ambushed by a guy named Gopher last night."

"Gopher?" said Ragnarok and Crona in unison.

"Isn't he Noah's loyal servant?" said Crona to ragnarok.

"Yeah, the one who took advantage of beating up your sweetie pie while he had hand cuffs," Raganrok said then grinned at Crona.

Crona glared at Ragnarok but ignored it right away and looked at Ren. "How did you know, Ren-san?"

"I went to the Death Room with Black Star. Shinigami-sama told us about it and wants us to find Tsubaki and help her but Black Star insisted that he should go alone. I don't really know why." Ren closed her eyes and dipped her head.

"He's just being a show off again," said Ragnarok.

"No, he probably doesn't want Tsubaki to know that I was his temporary weapon."

"Are you okay with that, Ren-san?" asked Crona, looking concerned.

Ren smiled. "Of course it is. From the start, I knew this would happen so it's not that disappointing. Besides, there are other technicians in this academy that has no weapon yet so I'll be okay."

"Oh." Crona smiled and felt relieved.

"Well, I got to go now. I'll still have to make lunch."

"That reminds me, Ren-san," said Ragnarok. "Do you live with Black Star right now?"

Ren shook her head. "No, I live in an apartment by myself. Why?"

"It's nothing. I was just curious."

Ren giggled. "Bye for now." She waved at them and they said goodbye to her and watched her run away from them.

"Ren-san is almost as nice as Tsubaki, isn't she?" said Crona as they continued to walk in the hallways, on their way to the special room.

"Yeah," Ragnarok said.

"Enjoy your moments with Kid-kun while it lasts, Crona Gorgon," Ren thought as she slowed down from running and a grin formed on her face.

_Sunday Morning - Tsubaki_

Tsubaki gradually opened her eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling. "W-what happened?" she thought. Her vision was still blurry. She tried to stand up but her chest suddenly ached, she held it and closed her eyes again because of the pain.

"You almost got killed last night," said Veronica, a widowed old woman who owned the small house. Tsubaki opened one eye and look at her. "Last night?" She said in a little voice, ignoring the fact that she didn't know the woman standing next to her, looking down at her, emotionless. She tried to remember what happened last night. A flashback came to her mind of Gopher beating her up.

"That guy with wings… He could have killed you when you were unconscious already he surprisingly just left you alone on the cold snowy land and flew away," Veronica explained.

The pain on Tsubaki's chest caused by Gopher's punches finally eased. She tried to breathe normally.

"Do you know why he did that to you?"

"I don't but I have feeling that something more dangerous will happen," replied Tsubaki.

"You're a student from Death Weapon Meister Academy, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. And you are?"

"I'm Veronica Clarkson."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Clarkson, I'm Tsubaki—"

"I know."

Tsubaki was shocked. "You do?"

Veronice nodded. "You're Tsubaki Nakatsukasa."

"How did you know?"

"You'll find out later. Anyway, please don't call me Mrs. Clarkson. I don't have a husband now so you'd rather call me Veronica."

"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that."

"No. It's alright. I should be the one to say sorry. I saw you last night when I was on my way home from my friend's house. I'm sorry that I didn't get to help you beat the guy that was attacking you."

Tsubaki smiled. "It's okay, Veronica," she said. "You could have got yourself killed if you tried to include yourself in our battle." Veronica just faced down and looked at Tsubaki again when she said, "I want to thank you for your kindness, for taking care of me while I was unconscious."

"My pleasure, Tsubaki. You should try to get up now. Your wounds will probably heal sooner or later. You're still going to Death City. Just like you said, there might be something more dangerous than yesterday that will take place but we couldn't tell exactly when. Consider last night as a warning or a sign."

"Well, I do find it suspicious that Gopher tried to attack me when I was on my way back to Death City. I assume that he did it to slow me down from getting there."

"Gopher, eh? Never heard of that name before, neither did I know that something like him exists, a guy with wings that shoots bullets. As for you, I've seen you changing to multiple weapons so I guessed you're a student in DWMA."

"Come on, there's someone waiting for you outside."

Tsubaki looked clueless. "Who could that be?" she thought. She slowly tried to stand up as Veronica walked to the door, opened it and looked back at Tsubaki, waiting patiently for her to catch up with her. Tsubaki finally got out of the room, when she raised her head, she couldn't believe what she saw. It was Black Star, putting his hands on his waist and smirking at her.

There were a few moments of silence.

"What's the matter, Tsubaki, cat got your tounge?" Black Star teased then he faced the ceiling, closed his eyes and burst our laughing.

Tsubaki was just speechless. She never expected to see Black Star. Later on her eyes started to water, she closed her eyes, ran to Black Star and hugged him tight, much to Black Star's surprise. His eyes widened and his pupils got smaller than they were already as he stepped back to keep himself from falling when Tsubaki wrapped her arms around him.

"It's been a long time," said Tsubaki between sniffs. "I-I missed you so bad."

Black Star can't help but smile. "You never change," he said to Tsubaki then started patting her head. "It's okay now, the great Black Star's here for his number 1 girl. We're going to beat up that gay (referring to Gopher) if ever we find him again!" He smirked and Tsubaki found herself blushing, her crying faded. She opened her eyes in shock.

Black Star's word reverberated in Tsubaki's mind. "_The great Black Star's here for his number 1 girl… Number 1 girl_…" She finally smiled, closed her eyes again and hugged him tighter. "Yes, we will," she replied to him. Veronice just watched them from a far with a smile on her face.

_Sunday Morning – Ragnarok and Crona_

"You're weak, timid clumsy, naïve and easily manipulated. Plus, you're so skinny!" Ragnarok told Crona in the special room with aromatic candles. This was what they had to do, they had to tell each other's deficiencies or weaknesses and Stein was there, watching them while Crona wasn't even paying attention. She was too caught up with her sea of thoughts. The candles weren't even affecting her, in other words, they weren't making her feel angry.

"Crona, it's your turn," Stein said, looking at Crona. Ragnarok gave Crona a quizzical look.

"Oh, sorry," Crona was finally pulled out of her reverie. "I was just thinking of some things."

"Don't tell me you didn't listen to what I was saying!" said Ragnarok.

Crona sweatdropped. She closed her eyes and smiled. "You're right. Can you say it again please?"

Ragnarok folded his arms. "Professor Stein, this is not working."

"Hmm," said Stein. "Is something bothering you, Crona?"

"Well… Yes..."

"What is it?"

"I'm sure it's just about Tsubaki," said Ragnarok, glaring at Crona.

"I see, well, Crona, don't worry, Tsubaki will be fine now that she and Black Star will eb reunited."

Crona smiled. "I know but it's not just about Tsubaki, professor. I'm still sad for Ren."

Ragnarok slapped his forehead. "Didn't she tell you that she'll be okay? Why don't you just believe in her?"

Crona faced down. "I really should but I couldn't."

"Hey! You brought me all the way here just to train with you spacing out and worrying about other's problem?"

"I wouldn't have felt like this if Ren didn't show up," Crona said, still facing down.

"Whatever. It's not your problem. Now focus on this training or I'll leave this place already!"

Crona flinched. "Right!" she said then finally sat up straight and looked at Ragnarok with determination, pushing her worries away.

_Sunday Late Morning – Licorice and Scarlet_

"Master, lunch is ready," Licorice said through the door as she knocked on it. Scarlet hasn't come out of her bedroom since she woke up that morning. Licorice received no response. She sighed. The door finally opened, surprising Licorice. Scarlet came out of the door, facing down, looking gloomy.

"M-master?"

"I'm sorry, Licorice."

"Master, you have to tell me what happened to you last night," Licorice said quickly. Supposed to be she should slow it down a bit so that Scarlet wouldn't hesitate to reply. "You came in the apartment and just rushed to your mom. I saw some bloodstains on your clothes, master. What happened to you?" Licorice frowned but she was glad that Scarlet was wearing clean clothes and looked fine now.

"I…" Scarlet started. Her throat still ached from last night. "I met Raven last night…"

"Raven?" said Licorice, more like she shouted. "What did that good for nothing Raven do to you? Wait till I get my hands on him!"

"Licorice," Scarlet said weakly as her face twitches and she felt like crying. "Raven's a…"

Licorice felt cold. She thought she knew what her Scarlet was going to say already and it scared her. Scarlet shouldn't know Raven's true identity, which what she always thought.

"… A vampire."

-darkness-

* * *

><p><em>AN: I felt a bit lazy so I made conversations and narrations simple. It's Monday tomorrow and the next chap will focus on what happens on the next day, Monday, which is the day of their Christmas Party. I won't promise that I'll be able to update tomorrow and I might get busy again with school especially because this week we'll have exams. *sighs* I wonder if people can imagine what's happening when they're reading my story… like how I imagine it… but I guess I can't really expect them to have the same imagination as me… I really got to make a comic out of this. There wouldn't be anymore describing if it's a comic already. -.- Well, I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. Until then…_


	22. A Letter of Involvement Refusal

**A/N:** Hello. ^_^ Sorry for putting this story on hiatus for two months. I wanted to make another story but I ended up making that story long. But that story shows how it all began… how Crona got the black blood… how she and Kid met, etc. If you have read that story, I'd like to say thank you! It means a lot when people read my work no matter how bad it is. Now that I finished making that story, I'm happy to say that I'll be able to update this story now.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22: Human<strong>

Ren stood up from the comfort chair with a piece of paper in her hand. She walked to the fireplace, stared at the flames for a while and finally threw the paper to them. She watched the paper burn. Her face showed no emotion.

"What was that?" said Gopher. He was sitting on the chair where Ren sat.

Ren closed her eyes. "None of your business," she replied.

Gopher smirked. "Love letter, I suppose?"

Ren turned around and gave Gopher a you-got-to-be-kidding-me stare. "You make me sick." She started to walk away.

Gopher's face turned serious. "Ren,"

Ren stopped but she just kept looking at the floor.

"Do you really want to be a human again?"

Ren smiled. "I want my old life back. That's what I want."

"And you think being a human again will make that happen? Pathetic."

"You don't know how it feels like to be a vampire, Gopher. It's like you'd rather die than to live like a parasite." She continued to walk out of the room to the dark hallways.

Gopher rested his arms behind his neck and stared at the fireplace. A small piece of paper flew out of it. Gopher's eyes widened. He stood up and picked up the paper from the ground. The edges were already burned. There were a few words on the paper. He read them in a whisper. "Sorry, Ren. I don't want Crona to get hurt."

XXX

One night, Licorice knocked on the front door of the Patchwork Lab.

"Coming," said Raven. He opened the door and was shocked to see Licorice, looking mad. "Li-licorice… what are you doing here?"

Licorice suddenly clutched Raven's neck with both of her hands. With a harsh voice she said, "Oh, you know why I'm here."

Raven squinted and gritted in pain. "Let… go… brat," he managed to say despite that he was losing his breath already. He tried to push Licorice away already.

Licorice let go of Raven, making him fall to the ground and hold his neck. His other hand held the floor. He started coughing. Licorice scowled down at him with her hands on her hips.

"Look," Raven started. He was facing the ground. "It wasn't my fault that she came to the cemetery. I told her to go away."

"Still, you bit her. Unforgivable, Raven, unforgivable!"

"I know." He stood up, dug his hands into his pockets and looked away. "You have enough reason to kill me now."

Licorice narrowed her eyes, bit her lip and slapped Raven. Raven's eyes widened. "Come on, Lico," he said nonchalantly as his eyes turned half-lidded in disappoinment. "You can do better than that."

"Idiot! I don't want to kill you! Not right now but someday!"

Raven sweatdropped and gave her an I-can't-believe-you stare.

"You still have to apologize to master and attend the party!"

"Forget it." Raven started pushing Licorice out of the house.

"Raven, this is not the right time to be anti-social!" Licorice turned around and pushed Raven and herself back inside the house.

Raven tried to push Licorice out of the house again. "What are you, my mother?" he said, sounding annoyed.

Licorice faced Raven. She was standing outside the house already. She glared. "I could kill you right now, you know?"

Raven smirked. "Go ahead."

"You will have to say sorry to Scarlet first!"

Raven became speechless. He faced down. "She's not going to forgive me."

"Attend the party and apologize to her, Raven, even if she doesn't forgive you."

"Pointless."

"What you did… you didn't do it in purpose, did you?"

"Of course not."

"Then you have a reason to be forgiven."

"I don't need it."

"What's with you?" Licorice frowned. "How come you sound like you want to give up already?"

Raven rested his back against the wall and looked up. "Lico… tell me. Is a life being lived with lies worth living?"

Licorice' eyes widened in shock and guilt. "Ugh. No, but—"

"But you insist me to go on. I'm tired, Lico." He finally stared at her. "I'm tired of living like this. I'm tired of being chained by you. I'm tired of seeing the person whose parents I killed. I don't want… to live like this."

"Raven, I'm—" Licorice tried to reach out for him but he drew back away from her.

"Sometimes I wish I would accept my sister's plan but if I do, someone will be in danger. I don't… want that as well."

"What do you mean… your sister's plan?"

"I'll be in trouble if I tell you."

Licorice held the colar of his shirt with her hands and shouted at his face. "Tell me! You're going to die anyway!"

Raven closed his eyes. "Ren wants Death the Kid. She wants his blood. She needs it to become human again. Noah helped her. In return, she will have to give Crona to him."

Licorice couldn't believe what Raven was saying. She stared at him with wide eyes and shaking hands as bulbous sweat ran down her face. "You're kidding me," she whispered.

Raven stared at Licorice with solemn eyes, giving a sign that he's serious. "Believe it or not. She wants me in her plan but I have finally decided." He looked away. "I wrote to her saying she can't have Crona nor Kid."

Licorice started to feel relieved. She slowly let go of Raven. She fell down on her knees in front of him. She stared at the floor. "Why… why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Idiot, I already told you," Raven said as he looked down at Licorice. "Ren didn't want me to say anything about it."

"You should have at least told me about it."

Raven closed his eyes. "I couldn't."

Licorice stared up at Raven in wonder.

"I wanted… to be human too."

XXX

-next evening-

"Maka, I'm not sure how I'll move around looking like this in the party tomorrow," Crona said nevously at her bestfriend. She was seated on one of the dining room chairs in Maka and Soul's apartment. She kept holding her knees and facing down in shame. Maka, who was standing in front of Crona, fixing her hair, smiled down at her especially because she was wearing the Classic black and white Lolita that Kid gave to her a few months ago before she left him. She looked really cute in it. She was like a doll.

"It's fine, Crona," Maka said. "Just be yourself and have fun." She showed her bestfriend a reassuring smile. Crona managed to smile back shyly. "Besides, you really look adorable in your outfit, right now. Kid really does have taste." The pinkette chuckled hesitantly as Maka tied Crona's black ribbon around her collar. She was like a mother, preparing her daughter for a prom. Suddenly, they heard a knock on the door. "Coming!" said Maka. She rushed towards the door. Crona waited patiently on her seat. She didn't feel like standing up, not when she was wearing those heels that Maka gave her. She always felt like she would fall when she stood up. It reminded her of the time she and Kid fell on the ice. Speaking of Kid, when Maka opened the door, she saw familiar three white stripes. A smile formed her face as she _greeted_ the handsome-looking young shinigami in a black tuxedo with his hair gelled. His bangs that used to fall down on his forehead were now pointing up.

"Good evening too, Maka," Kid said and smiled.

"What's with your hair?"

"Oh, that." Kid looked away. "Liz couldn't resist messing with it."

Maka giggled. "It doesn't look bad."

"Crona's here, right?" he said, trying to change the topic before they go to the point on talking more about his hair. He's always sensitive about that.

"Yeah and she's waiting for you!"

Kid arched an eyebrow. "She is?" he said suspiciously, sounding skeptic.

"Of course, she is, silly. Come on." She took Kid's hand and led him to the dining room.

As Kid entered the dining room, Maka let go of his hand. He found the pinkette looking like a princess sitting on a chair, shy as always. She glanced up at him in surprise. Kid was just as surprised as her. He stood there like a statue. His eyes shimmered. He never saw Crona that beautiful before. She wore makeup though it was just light, but enough to make her prettier than she already is.

Maka glanced at Crona then at Kid with a smile on her face. She clasped her hands at her back and said, "Well, I leave you two alone now. I'll go get Soul so we can all go to the academy together."

"Alright," Kid finally said as he glanced at Maka. He watched her disappear. He saw that she waved at Crona as a goodbye. He returned his gaze at the pinkette who started to look down on the floor again. Kid chuckled, making Crona twitch.

"Wh-why are you laughing?" Crona said weakly as she glanced up at Kid.

Kid smiled sweetly. "Nothing, Crona. I'm just happy to see that you're wearing the gift I gave you."

Crona smiled and blushed.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAKA? THERE'S NO WAY I'LL WEAR THAT CRAVAT YOU GAVE ME!" shouted Soul from a room.

"JUST USE IT ALREADY! IT'S BETTER THAN THAT NECKTIE OF YOURS!" Maka shouted back.

Crona and Kid just sweatdropped as they heard their friends' voices.

"They really are fighting like married couple, aren't they, Crona?" said Kid.

Crona giggled.

"Come on, let's help them."

"Yeah." Crona said as Kid held her hand. She stood up and they started walking towards the room where Maka and Soul was.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I tried to develop Licorice' personality. Ren and Raven is almost feeling the same. Crona and Kid should enjoy their moment until it lasts. Haha. Noah wants Crona but why? You and I shall find out eventually. XD


	23. The Victim's Humble Offer

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23: Exception<strong>

For the past days since Scarlet found out about Raven's secret, she did little but sleep, with help from the pink pills Licorice paid for at the hospital. They have told the doctor that it was just some kind of insect that bit Scarlet. The doctor could hardly believe. He thought it was a vampire that bit her but he convinced himself that such creature doesn't exist, so he gave Scarlet some pills that would help her fast recovery.

Scarlet picked up her glass of water from her study table in her room, swallowed one pink pill and drank water. She placed down the glass again, held her neck and looked at the her full length mirror. She could still see the bite mark but at least they didn't swell anymore and it already stopped bleeding. She was already wearing her green dress for the party and had already makeup on her face. "My friends will definitely notice this," Scarlet thought, referring to the bite mark. She narrowed her eyes and thought deeply about Raven. "Raven, why did you try to hide it from me?"

On the table there was a newspaper that she bought a very long time ago. She picked it up, turned the pages until she spotted the article about the death of her parents. "The mysterious death of the Vander couple," Scarlet read in her mind. "On a snowy night of December 21, 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Vander were on a trip back to their hometown. At the highway, their car crashed onto a large tree. They were found dead inside the car. But that wasn't the only thing that killed them. Policemen saw that there were bite marks on their necks other than the wounds on their body. They suspected that they got bitten by a vampire but since there still isn't sufficient evidence that it exist, they dropped the idea and sticked with the idea that the car accident was the cause their deaths." Scarlet covered her mouth. She was beginning to realize that the policemen's hypothesis was right.

There was a knock on the door. Scarlet quickly placed the newspaper back into her drawer. She opened her room's door and saw her loyal servant. "Good evening, master, are you ready for the party?" Licorice said as she smiled. She was wearing a black and white dress. Scarlet smiled back at her and nodded. "Then, come on!" Licorice said cheerfully as she gripped her master's hand and led her out of her room. Scarlet paused and faced down. "Hmm?" Licorice uttered. She looked back. "Licorice…" Scarlet said solemnly, "do you think… Raven will be there?" Licorice faced her master. "The question is… do you want him to be there?" She replied. "I-I want to talk to him…" said Scarlet. Licorice smiled. "Then that's a yes, right? Don't worry," she continued to drag her master through the hallways. "I have a feeling that he'll be there."

XXX

-At the place where they celebrated DWMA's anniversary-

Kid had a glass of apple juice in his hand as he conversed with Soul and Black Star. They were all wearing tuxedos. Different voices, colors and designes of clothes surrounded them. Christmas music, laughter and the sweet smell of chocolate was in the air. Decorations related to Christmas were on the walls and ceilings. Maka was helping Tsubaki set the food on the table.

"This song is so boring!" Black Star exclaimed, referring to the music in the room. Soul rose an eyebrow at him. He was the one who picked the songs. "Well, what do you want? Rock songs?" Black Star smirked. "Even better!" he said. He pulled Tsubaki's arm. Tsubaki almost dropped the bowl of fruit salad. "Tsubaki and I will be singing!" Black Star said and grinned. Tsubaki only looked surprised at the sudden decision. Soul and Kid just sweat dropped and looked at Black Star with lazy eyes. "But Black Star…" said Soul. "Yeah?" Soul closed his eyes. "You sing like a drowning cat."

Black Star twitched. "What did you just say?" he shouted at Soul as he drew his face near his. Kid tried to separate Soul and Black Star, like a referee. "Soul, I thought you were my friend!" Black Star said as he tried to push Kid away. Tsubaki just kept giggling. "But _I am_ your friend!" Soul said. He placed a hand on his chest and looked at Black Star with serious eyes. "I just don't want you to get embarrassed." Black Star gave him a quizzical look. "You… you really mean that?" Soul nodded. Black Star hung his arm around Soul's neck and messed with his hair. "You worry too much, Soul!" he said and laughed. "H-Hey! Stop that!" Soul commanded angrily but he grinned. Kid and Tsubaki chuckled at them.

"Come on, Tsubaki!" Black Star said as he held her arm wrist. "Bl-Black Star, are you sure about this?" Tsubaki said nervously but she showed a hesitant smile. "Of course I am!" Black Star said with determination. "Do us all a favor and don't s…" Kid said to Black Star, apparently, he was already on his way to the stage with Tsubaki, "… sing." Soul and Kid watched Black Star and Tsubaki on the stage. Black Star picked up the microphone. "Listen up, students of DWMA!" Black Star said. "Tonight, my weapon and I will sing a beautiful song!" The students stared blankly at Black Star and the room became quiet all of the sudden. "Whaaaaat?" a girl said from afar. "Seriously?" said a boy as he rose an eyebrow. Black Star cleared his throat. "Well, music please!" he said. The musicians started playing "Last Christmas." The audience decided to clap anyway. Tsubaki sighed. "Here we go," she said to herself as she picked up a microphone. She and Black Star started to sing. Tsubaki sounded sweet while Black Star… didn't sound too bad. Kid and Soul smiled.

The large room's door opened. Everyone looked back and gasped. The music faded. Tsubaki and Black Star's voices gradually faded as well. They stopped singing as they spotted Crona behind the Thompson sisters. The pinkette was hiding and the sisters were acting as if they were bodyguards. Still, even though she was trying to hide, everyone still saw her looking so beautiful. They have never seen Crona in a dress before (only the sisters and Kid since they once lived together) so it really surprised them. It was like they were culture shocked. "Is that… Crona?" Kilik said. His and Harvart's eyes widened. Raven looked back and saw Crona. He wan'ts shocked at all. "Crona-chan looks so pretty, doesn't she?" Tsubaki said as she smiled at Black Star. Black Star was still staring at Crona from afar. His face showed that he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Black Star?" Tsubaki said. "Oh, ah!" Black Star said as he faced Tsubaki and scratched his head. "Where were we?" He faced the musicians and smiled. The musicians nodded and continued playing. "Tsubaki, let's sing for Crona and Kid!" Black Star said and grinned. Tsubaki closed his eyes and smiled. "Mm," she uttered in understanding. Black Star and Tsubaki knew about Kid and Crona's relationship. The song they were singing reminded them of it since a long time ago, back when Medusa was still alive, Kid gave his heart to Crona, but Crona left… and now they're back together again.

Kid's face lightened up as he saw the love of his life. "I'll be right back, Soul," he said as he walked away from Soul and through the crowd. Soul smiled. "Take your time," he said. Maka approached him. "Hey, Soul," she said. "What?" Soul said as he turned around to face Maka. "Maybe you and I should sing next!" Soul gave Maka a quizzical look. "You're kidding me, _right_…?" Maka giggled.

"Crona-chan, we'll be in the restroom!" Patty said. Liz was standing next to her.

"Oh, okay," Crona said. She clutched her arm and rested her back behind a wall. The song being sung by ninja and his weapon was making her zone out as she patiently waited for Liz, Patty and Maka.

Kid was near Crona already. He tried to squeeze himself out of the crowd without being rude. Someone tapped on his shoulder which made him turn around. "Shinigami-kun, would you like to dance?" said Ren. Kid sighed in relief that it was just Ren, not some crazy fan girl, but deep inside, his nervous around her. "I'd like to, but…" Kid said as he looked back at Crona who was still facing down, looking spaced out.

"She's the makenshi, right?" a boy said. Kid heard him. "Yeah, I think so," said the boy's friend." The boy smiled. "It looks like she's not that dangerous." His friend studied Crona. "Well, you're right… she actually looks scared. Maybe she's the type who's easily fooled." The boys laughed. "Yeah, let's go talk with her!" Kid glared at the boys who were standing a bit far away from them. Tsubaki and Black Star were still singing and the students around him were noisy, chattering. "But what?" Ren said. She got Kid's attention again. "Oh, uh," said Kid. "Sorry Ren, but I have to go. Talk to you later." He walked away from her and continued on his way to Crona. He stood next to her even before the random boys got closer to Crona. He dug his right hand into his pants pocket as he punched the wall a little bit up above Crona's head with his other hand. He stared back at the boys with eyes like daggers. Crona flinched when she heard the thud that was produced from Kid's punch. She was back to reality. Kid's shadow was on her. She looked up at Kid and was obviously astonished to see him. "Kid?" she said as her eyes widened. Kid looked like he was shielding Crona, much to her surprise. The boys stopped from walking towards the pinkette. They saw Kid glaring at them. He was like a cat who didn't want to share his food (Crona). "Uhhh," the boys uttered nervously. "We just wanted to talk to her!" one boy said. His friend nodded. "Yeah! But I guess this isn't the right time!" He held his friend's arm then ran away from the place. Crona just watched them disappear, looking clueless. Kid closed his eyes and sighed in relief. His hand that was on the wall above Crona's head slowly slid down and landed on her head. "You… you scared me," he whispered to Crona. Crona twitched as she tried to see Kid's hand. "I-I did? How" she said frantically. Kid smiled. "Please don't zone out like that… people get the idea that you're an airhead." Crona's eyes slowly became half-lidded. "Oh," she said softly then she smiled. "Thanks, Kid."

Fangirls ' face became red as they made fists. "That Crona is keeping Kid-kun all to herself!" she said. "Who does she think she is?" said another.

"Crona, you really look beautiful right now," Kid said. He rested his back on the wall next to Crona. Both of his hands were in his pockets already. He looked away. He can still be shy around Crona even when he was her boyfriend already. On the other hand, Crona was still not used to compliments. "Ugh, you too," she said. She kept staring at the ground. Kid sweatdropped. "I'm beautiful too?" he said as he faced Crona. "N-no, I meant that y-you look… handsome…" Kid smiled. "Well, I knew my girlfriend would look drop dead gorgeous tonight so I thought it would be embarrassing if her boyfriend will look like trash." Crona giggled. "I love you no matter how you look, Kid." Kid quickly glanced at Crona and uttered, "ugh." He was surprised that Crona didn't stutter. A smiled tugged on his lips.

Raven glanced down at Death City. He was alone at the balcony outside the large room where the party was being held. Scarlet held a wall as she glanced at Raven. She didn't want to disturb him but she really felt that that time was her opportunity to talk to him. A strong wind passed her. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She still felt fear in heart, fear of Raven. She bravely stood a little bit far away from her partner and she stared down at Death City. It was evening already so they couldn't see some of the buildings clearly. Still, the lights were attractive. Raven stared at Scarlet, shocked of her presence but he remained calm. He looked down at the city again.

"The past and the future can only be lived in the mind," Scarlet said, breaking the silence. "Actual living is done here and now." Raven gave her a quizzical look. Scarlet smiled then he faced him. "Raven, I'm… sorry," she said. Raven became even more confused. _Why is she smiling? Isn't she supposed to be mad at me? _He thought. "Why… why are you saying sorry?" he said awkwardly to his meister. Scarlet kept her head and eyes low but there was still a smile on her face. "I… I was selfish…" Raven raised an eyebrow. "What?" he said. It came out like a gasp. "I was mad at you for not telling me the truth about you… but it was also my fault for not asking. You told me to stay away. I ended up getting bitten by for being stubborn. I was also mad at you for biting me… and that's why I'm selfish. I'm sorry." She closed her eyes. "I… don't really get it." Scarlet chuckled hesitantly. "Well, you see… now that I know what you are… and what you need… as your meister… I should have given you what you needed without complain. I should have known you wanted the thing that keeps you alive… and I… should have offered it to you. I shouldn't have… thought about hating you because of what you did. You need to survive, right? I guess I helped but at first, I didn't know that I actually helped you so I… was confused… I didn't really know what to do. It was all so sudden." She covered her mouth. Tears started to leak out from her eyes. Raven couldn't believe what he just heard. _Aren't I supposed to be the one who should apologize? Why is she thinking like this? She's supposed to hate me. But now she thinks that she was selfish for helping me without a willing heart. _

Raven looked down at the city again. He wanted to hold his meister and stop her from crying but he was afraid that she'll be afraid of him again. He was afraid to see those terrified eyes again when she bit her the other day. "You don't have to apologize," Raven finally said as he narrowed his eyes. "I couldn't blame you for anything. Anyone would be surprised if they got bitten by… someone like me. It's natural for you to be scared… to be disgusted by me. I got that a lot already for the past years." Scarlet suddenly stopped crying and glanced at Raven. _For the past years._ The words reverberated in her mind. "You mean…" she said. Raven closed his eyes and dipped his head. "As a vampire… I need to drink blood to survive. It's disgusting, I know." He smiled but tried to hide it. "I can imagine," Scarlet said. She heard Raven chuckle softly. "So you actually think that since you're my meister, you should give me your blood when I need it?" Raven said then chuckled again. This time it was louder. "It's crazy that you're apologizing to me," Raven said. "I'm the one at fault here. I frightened you. You've done nothing wrong. You came to see me at the cemetery, right? You didn't want to leave me even when I told you to go away." He smiled. "You were really persistent. I didn't want to hurt you, Scarlet… that's why I told you to go away. I'm sorry for not telling you… what I really am."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you hate vampires."

Scarlet's eyes widened. "And who told you that?"

"Licorice."

"Do you know why, Raven?"

"I do."

"Well, I don't hate you."

"I'm an exception?"

"It's not like you're the vampire who killed my parents, right?" she closed her eyes and smiled while Raven twitched. He looked away.

"What if I am?"

"That's unbelievable. Someone like you wouldn't do such a terrible thing."

_Idiot._ He thought as he looked away. "But I'm a terrible person, Scarlet."

"Ugh. No, you're not!" she scowled at Raven and made fists. "If you're a terrible person, then why would you give hope to me in avenging my parents? Why did you stop me from committing suicide then?"

Raven tried to ignore his meister's angry face. "Because… I owe you."

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything for you before we met, have I?"

Raven smiled. "You'll find out eventually."

"You're so mean." She sounded like a child. "Why don't you just tell me now?"

"I already told you. It's because I'm a terrible person," Raven said lazily.

"I guess you really are." Scarlet closed her eyes then smirked. "Anyway, we'll still find the one who killed my parents, right?"

Raven laughed at hearing "we". "But Scarlet, he's already in front you," he said in his mind, referring to himself. "Yes," he said to Scarlet. "Of course we will." He scratched the back of his head. "How's your wound?"

"It's… getting better," Scarlet said as she held her neck and smiled.

"You know… I won't do it again, or rather I won't get to do it again so… don't worry."

"Raven… I know you need devour blood to live… so it's really okay if you do it again, okay?"

Raven stared at Scarlet intensely. He wondered, "why… is she still smiling like that? Why does she have to go so far as to offer herself? I… don't deserve it at all… especially from the person whose parents I killed." Raven stared at the sky as he rested his lower arms on the fence. "I thought you hate vampires."

"I like one vampire. He's my partner. And I won't let him die so easily."

Raven raised an eyebrow and smiled at Scarlet. "You're talking as if it's not painful when I bite you."

Scarlet giggled. "I can endure."

"You're so weird."

Scarlet smirked. "Speak for yourself."

Raven grinned.

" By the way, we'll gather some souls tomorrow. Right now, let's enjoy the party."

"Fine with me." Raven followed his meister back to the room.


	24. Canoeing Down the River of Sin

**A/N:** I just want to reply to reviews.

Eh: thank you for reading the story but it's kinda sad that you only reviewed to tell me the imperfection of the story. Anyway, let me clarify something. I got the idea of Kid protecting Crona from in a party from myself a long time ago when I was still thinking about how this story will flow. That time, I still haven't read Furuba. Recently, I've been reading Furuba and that scene wherein Kyo was protecting Tohru reminded me of my idea. So… since it was similar to my idea… I used it as a _guide_. So that's why that scene in the previous chapter is similar to what happened in Furuba. Moreover, of course the same thing will happen since Crona was wearing a dress and since she's cute some boys will get attracted to her. But Kid, being her boyfriend (in this story), he had to be protective and selfish in a sweet way. That's all.

Chabeli: thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 24: Only Hope<strong>

"Is everything ready now?"Noah Wrath asked as he looked down at Gopher. He was holding the Book of Eibon, sitting on a throne in a spacious room.

"Yes, master," Gopher replied.

"Good. Where is _he_?"

Gopher turned around.

A blonde guy in a sleeveless leather black shirt with dark blue eyes stepped out of the shadows. Small chains were hanging on one side of his silver belt. He slowly raised his head and met Wrath's eyes. Wrath smirked at the sight of his new apprentice.

XXX

Raven watched Ren from afar. Ren was talking with some of her friends. She noticed Raven staring at her. She smiled at him. Raven looked away and thought about the letter she gave to her. He thought about what her reaction could be when she read the letter. It made him wonder why Ren could still smile at him. He glanced at Scarlet and then at Licorice, slightly nervous.

XXX

"It's nearly two months already since Crona was back to our side again," Stein said. He was standing next to his wife, Marie, drinking a cocktail with her as they both watched the pinkette with the young shinigami dancing together.

Marie smiled. "Yes," she said. "And the good thing is that she's not as very shy as before anymore."

XXX

"Crona," Kid said as he looked into Crona's eyes while he danced waltz with her.

Crona looked up at Kid. She had been staring at the ground, especially because people kept staring at them.

"Do you remember the time when we had our first dance?"

"Uh, y-yeah… it was on your birthday, right?"

Kid chuckled a bit. "No, the truth is… it wasn't on my birthday. I just told you that so you would dance with me."

Crona raised an eyebrow but she smiled. "But why… why did you have to lie just so you could dance with me?"

"I wanted to show you how to dance… in preparation for this moment. I thought that time… when we were on the ship… I had the best chance to be able to do it."

Crona's eyes turned half- lidded as she looked down. "Oh, I see… but you didn't have to lie."

"I assumed that you wouldn't dance with me just for normal reasons. I'm sorry."

"You know what," Crona looked up at Kid again and smiled. "I have lied to you, and betrayed you," she said slowly with a low shaky voice. "So I have no right to be mad at you."

"Crona…"

Crona lowered her head again and her eyes narrowed. "And I… I still can't believe why you forgave me so easily." Kid brushed off a strand from her face and placed it behind her ear making her stare at him again.

"Like I said before, not a million times of understanding can make me hate you. I was really happy to see you again… I and others have been looking for you. We were so worried about you."

A sad smile formed on Crona's smile face. "You worried for a liar and a traitor."

"You may have been a liar and a traitor to us but you weren't to your mother. That shows your loyalty. The only problem is that you…"

"I chose the wrong path."

Kid smiled. "Yeah," he said softly. "But at least you chose to change. Everyone deserves a second chance."  
>Crona looked into Kid's warm honey eyes. It was in his eyes where she finds peace. She showed him a smile of thank you. They continued to glide gracefully on the dance floor with the other couples. Crona applied what she learned from her first dance with Kid on the ship.<p>

XXX

"They're canoeing down the River of Sin," Anya said with a monotone voice, referring to the pinkette and the young shinigami. She sat with Tsugumi and Meme near a round table clothed in white. They watched Crona and Kid as they conversed and danced slowly from afar.

Tsugumi smiled hesitantly at Anya. "You hate them together, Anya-san?"

"Not really but you see… Kid is the son of Lord Death and Crona's the daughter of the evil witch Medusa. Don't you think it's awkward that they're together like that? Don't you think it's a sin?"

Tsugumi shook her head. Anya raised an eyebrow at her. "But I thought you like Kid," she said.

Tsugumi suddenly blushed. "What? No, I don't," she denied as she looked down at her feet as if they became attractive.

"You said it before. You have a crush on him. When the first time you met each other, he told you that you're symmetrical, right?"

Tsugumi smiled. "Oh… that. It made me like him a bit and I began to admire but… since we're not in the same class… I didn't get to see him often… so my admiration slowly faded."

" Tsugumi-chan, do you still like him?" Meme asked.

Tsugumi nodded. "But I don't want to let him know."

"Why not?" asked Anya.

"I wouldn't want to ruin his relationship with Crona-senpai. He looks so happy with her." Tsugumi watched Kid smiling from afar with Crona. "I haven't seen him smiling like that before." She faced her friends with a smile on her face. "Who would want to take that smile away?"

Meme and Anya stared at each other then Anya looked at Tsugumi and Kid. "Well… he does smile sweetly right now. Before he would rarely smile like that or he would just smile if he sees something symmetrical."

Tsugumi chuckled. "That's exactly what I wanted to say."

XXX

"Understood, Lord Death," Marie said. She was inside the restroom, talking to Lord Death through a mirror. She looked serious after what she heard from Lord Death. She walked fast back to the large room where the party was being held. She glanced around, trying to look for Kid. Then she finally spotted him still dancing with his lady. She smiled when she found him. She started to walk towards him and Crona. It was a bit crowded and the students were moving a lot so it slowed her down. "Kid!" she shouted at Kid.

Kid lifted his head and looked to the right only to find his teacher. "What is it, Marie-sensei?" he said. He and Crona stopped dancing but he still held her hand. Both of them gave Marie a quizzical look.

"Kid, your father told me that he wants to talk to you right now in the Death Room this instant!"

"Did he tell you why?"

Marie shook her head in disappointment. "He will only tell it you."

"I see. I'll be there as soon as possible."

"Thank you. Take care on your way." She smiled and walked away.

He faced Crona. "Crona, I'm sorry that I have to go."

"It's okay, Kid," Crona said as she closed her eyes and smiled.

Kid held both of her hands and looked into her eyes immensely. "Promise me that you won't dance with strangers like those boys who wanted to talk to you a while ago."

Crona sweat dropped. "I-I won't. Promise."

Kid looked to the right and saw Ragnarok having a good laugh with Black Star.

XXX

"So when Sid-sensei wouldn't tell us about Professor Stein's location, I flipped Tsubaki's skirt and what do you know? He told us right after I did that," Black Star said.

Ragnarok's eyes widened. "Whoa. He would actually fall for that trick that I sometimes do to Crona? What a sucker!" He laughed.

"I know, right? HAHAHAHAHA!" Black Star said as he closed his eyes, faced the ceiling and placed his hands on his hips. "Oh! Oh! And—" He placed a hand on Ragnarok's shoulder. "The best part was that when we asked him another question, he did not reply so Soul decided to do what I did. He flipped Maka's skirt!"

Ragnarok snickered. "Let me guess… Maka gave him a Maka Chop."

"Worse! She gave us all a Maka Chop except Tsubaki!"

They both burst out laughing again. Kid suddenly held Ragnarok's upper arm that made him stop laughing. "Hmm?" Ragnarok uttered as he looked back at Kid who was still holding Crona's hand with a nonchalant look. Crona was behind him. "Ragnarok, could you please take care of Crona while I'm gone?" Kid said.

"Oh, so you're going to leave her to me and look for another girl?" Ragnarok said and smirked.

Crona flinched.

"I'm going to see my father. Do you want her or not? I can give her to Soul and Maka if you don't want."

"Don't talk as if she's some toy who you can just give away, reaper boy!"

Kid sighed. "If only father permits her to come with me to see him, then I would let her come with me. But since he wants to speak with me in private, I have no choice but to entrust you with Crona."

"Just go with it, man," Black Star said as he smacked Ragnarok's back.

Ragnarok glared at Kid. "Fine," he said, sounding reluctant.

"Thanks," Kid said to Ragnarok then he faced Crona. He let go of her hand. "I'll see you later, Crona."

Crona waved goodbye at Kid as he disappeared into the crowd. She faced Ragnarok but she kept her eyes on the ground. "Ragnarok, if you don't want to be with me then you don't have to force yourself…"

Ragnarok had his arms crossed against his chest while Black Star had already walked away to get more food. "What are you talking about? I was only mad at reaper boy for leaving you. I never said I didn't want you with me."

Crona finally smiled at Ragnarok. "Kid will come back."

"Hmph! Let's see if that happens."

"You think he won't?"

"I sense it. By the way, is that the dress that he gave you?"

"Y-yes. Does it look…"

"It's ugly."

Crona frowned. "Ragnarok…"

Ragnarok patted her head as he smiled. "Just kidding."

XXX

"Father," Kid said as he took more steps in the Death Room, bringing himself closer to Lord Death. "What is it that you want to tell me?"

Lord Death turned around. He had been watching his mirror. "Oh, hi, Kid!" he said as he bounced and faced him. "I just wanted you to be aware of the strange aura right now."

Kid raised an eyebrow. "What?" he said.

"Right now, I feel as if something's wrong in Death City but I still couldn't find out what it is. Others don't feel it but I do."

"Of course, father, you are a Shinigami."

"I was hoping that you would sense it too since you're my son."

"To be honest, I don't sense anything wrong. Hmm." He placed a hand on his chin. "Maybe I still lack shinigami instincts."

"Don't say that Kid. I'm just probably imagining things. If it's real then you would feel it too."

"No, father, maybe I could sense it but I was too caught up with the party."

"Speaking of the party, how is it?"

"It's going smoothly. It's really fun there. You should come."

"Thank you, Kid, but…" Lord Death faced the mirror again. "Something tells me that I shouldn't leave this place for a while."

"Well then… I hope you'll be fine here."

"I will, son. You're going back to the party now?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Have fun!"

"I will." Kid smiled. "And thanks for the warning. I'll keep it in mind." He turned around and started walking towards the torri gates that looked like guillotines.

XXX

"Hey, Soul Eater, I hope you don't lay a finger on my daughter and dance with her!" Spirit said as he lowered his upper body with his hands on his hips.

"What are you yapping about?" Soul said. He squinted at Spirit. He was just sitting down and talking with Maka. Maka looked at her dad quizzically. "It's not like I want to dance with her anyway."

"That's good then! 'Cause I'll be the one dancing with my daughter." Spirit smiled at Maka. It was as if sparkles started to surround him. "Maka, shall we?" he said gently.

Maka looked away. "No way."

Spirit's jaw almost dropped to the ground. "But I thought you aren't mad at me anymore!"

"I'm still mad at you. Moreover, I don't want to be seen dancing with you." Maka was still looking away. Soul just smirked.

"Don't worry, Maka, my dear!" He pointed at himself with his thumb, stood firmly and closed his eyes. "Your papa is an expert in dancing!"

"Yeah, I know, I even saw you dancing waltz with some girl other than mama when I was young," Maka said in a little voice. Soul was the only one who heard her. Spirit drew his face closer to Maka and placed a hand behind his ear. "What was that?"

Maka forced herself to smile at Spirit. "Oh, nothing!"

"Hmm. Anyway, come on, please! Dance with your papa."

"Never," Maka said as she looked away again.

"I'll have you know that I won first prize in a World Ballet Competition!"

Soul looked like he couldn't believe what he just heard. "What a load of crap," he said then he closed his eyes as he crossed his arms behind his neck. "Just give the old man a chance already, Maka. He'll get more annoying when he keeps being desperate like that."

Maka sighed, placed a hand on the table and stood up. "Alright. But only for one minute."

"Yes!" Spirit exclaimed. He made fists and grinned.

XXX

Kid was already in the hallway that leads to the room of the party. She found a black-haired girl on the floor somewhere near the large doors. This surprised him. He could hear her coughing. His eyes widened as he started to recognize her. "Ren?" he said then he hurriedly ran towards her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and knelt down. "What's wrong?"

Ren's eyes were half-lidded. She stared at Kid. His face was so close to her. "Shi-shinigami-kun…"

Kid looked concern. "Tell me," he insisted and gritted his teeth.

"I… I need you."

Kid gave her a quizzical look. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"This is your chance, Ren," Wrath said to Ren a while ago before she came to party. His words came to her mind again.

Ren gathered up her strength, pushed Kid against the wall and bit his neck. Kid's eyes widened again. His pupils narrowed. The more Ren sank her teeth into his neck, the more his face twitched. He gritted his teeth and grunted. He had the urge to push her away but her words resonated in his mind. _I need you. _"Is this what she needs from me?" Kid thought as he looked up at the ceiling. "Ren," he managed to say in a little voice. He held her shoulders and pushed her a bit far away from him. Ren looked at him with guilty eyes. She still had some of his blood near her mouth. "You're a… vampire?" Ren nodded. She was still sitting on Kid's lap. She started to sob. "Don't… cry…" Kid said. Apparently, Kid hates it when he makes someone cry. "I'm sorry, Shinigami-kun," Ren said between sniffs and hiccups. "You're my only hope to make me human again so… I… I did it…" Kid still looked confused but then he began to understand. He smiled. "You could have just asked." Ren slowly stopped crying. She glanced at Kid and she suddenly hugged him, making him freeze.

XXX

"Don't you think he's taking too long?" Ragnarok asked.

"Maybe something happened," Crona said, sounding worried. She was clutching her arm.

"I told you, he won't come back."

"Quiet down, Ragnarok, will you? I'll go find him. Maybe he's in trouble."

"Wait, wait, wait. You worry too much." Ragnarok held her shoulder and pulled her back.

Crona glanced at Ragnarok. "Let go or else come with me."

Ragnarok gave Crona a serious look. Then he let go of her shoulder.

Crona walked away.

XXX

Raven turned around and watched Crona. "Please hold this for me," he said to Licorice as he gave her his glass of juice. He ran after Crona.

"H-hey! Raven!" Licorice shouted.

"What's… going on?" Scarlet asked her. Licorice looked nervous.

"I don't know, master."

XXX

Crona opened the large door. "Kid?" She stared at the ground and found Ren hugging Kid. She could see bloodstains. She gasped and covered her mouth with both of her hands.

"C-Crona!" Kid shouted at her as he tried to reach out to her. Crona slowly stepped back while Ren still kept hugging Kid. She secretly smiled behind Kid. "It's… not what… it looks like," Kid said. The wound on his neck made it hard for him to speak as it ached.

Crona took more steps backwards. Kid tried to push Ren away but his wound and his lost of blood was making him weak. Crona finally turned around and started to run away. "Crona, wait!" Kid shouted again. He finally got Ren off of him. He stood up and started running after Crona with a hand on his neck. "She should have at least, bit this side of my neck too," Kid said as he held the side of his neck where there was no bite mark. He was still annoyed at asymmetry. He kept squinting. He was panting as he ran through the corridors after Crona who was incredibly fast for someone who usually looks frail. "Crona, come back! I can explain!" Kid said desperately shouted in the empty hallways. Crona just ignored her as she ran as fast as she can while tears fell down from her face with a hand still on her mouth.

XXX

"Crona," Raven said in his mind. He stepped out of the large room and found Crona's heels on the floor. Apparently, she left them so she could run faster. Raven saw his sister on the floor snickering. He scowled at her. He knelt in front of her and clutched her neck. "What… did… you do?" he coldly said.

"Relax, Raven," Ren said calmly. "The transaction is just starting."

Raven looked at the blood on her face with shaking eyes. His hands trembled in anger. His eyeglasses have fallen to the ground. "You're crazy… How could you go on with your deal by risking other people's lives?" he said harshly.

Ren faced down and smiled. "No matter what you say, little brother… a deal's a deal," she said. "It's not too late to join us."

"Don't even try to drag me to another hell. I've been through a lot of it already." She clutched her neck more.

"I think he went downstairs," someone familiar said from inside the room.

Raven looked back. His eyes widened. "Scarlet," he gasped as he recognized his meister's voice.

Ren smirked then Raven let go of her. He stood up and ran towards the door while Ren escaped. Raven wouldn't allow Scarlet to see Ren. He was thankful that there wasn't blood on the floor.

"Raven, what's going on?" Scarlet said as she stepped out with _Licorice_ behind her.

"I was just worried about Crona-senpai."

"Is that so? Well, she did look uneasy."

"Come with me if you want to help her." Raven turned around and started running.

XXX

Crona was finally on the stairs outside Shibusen while Kid was still inside. Kid almost couldn't sense her soul anymore. "This must be just a dream…" Crona thought tearfully, "no, a nightmare." She closed her eyes as she continued to run on the streets of Death City, not much caring of what she steps on. It was late evening already so the streets were quiet but there were still lights. It was awfully cold especially because it was December already so she kept hugging herself. She ran fast until she was at the town square already where there was a fountain. While she was running, she could still hear Kid shouting her name but when she stopped at the fountain, his voice finally fainted. She looked at herself at the stagnant water of the fountain. Tears still kept leaking out of her eyes. Her feet felt sore. She never thought that the day would come when she would see Kid so close with another girl. She didn't know what she was feeling… it was a mixture of sadness and jealousy. But she thought if she had the right to be jealous. She asked herself why she ran away. _They_ were only hugging. Not a big deal. But somehow it caused her pain inside, something indescribable that led her to escape from that place as soon as possible. For the first time, the moon looked sad as he stared down at Crona who covered her face with a hand, looking down at the water. Time passed by, she saw somebody else's reflection. There was a reflection of a blonde guy with blue eyes and _black_ mask on his lower face. Crona's eyes widened. Before she could turn around, the boy covered her lower face with a white cloth and carried her in bridal style. Crona screamed under the cloth as she gave the boy a confused look. He did not look at her. Instead he stared at the helicopter with a ladder made of ropes as it lowered down. Crona struggled to get away from him. She started pushing his chest. Gopher came down and helped the blonde guy bring Crona inside the helicopter using his wings.

"Crona!" Kid shouted. He was shocked to see Gopher again. He glared at him. The blonde who was holding on to the ladder was unfamiliar to him. The Helicopter started to go higher in the sky. Kid summoned Beelzebub. "Hang on there, Crona," he said to himself. He followed the helicopter. Gopher tried shooting Kid with his bullet wings. "Not good," Kid thought. "I forgot Liz and Patty." He gritted his teeth and grunted. All he could do was escape from the attacks. The blonde finally got inside the helicopter already while Kid got hit by a bullet that sent him falling in the air.

"Kid!" Maka shouted. She was riding on Soul with the angel wings. She caught Kid and made him ride on Soul too.

"Hey, you guys sure _aren't_ heavy!" Soul shouted sarcastically.

"Wait, Soul, we're going down." They landed on the desert sand.

Kid stood on the ground. "Thank you, Maka," he said.

"Don't mention it. Who were you after and where's Crona?"

"Gopher. He's probably with Wrath. They got Crona."

"What?" Maka shouted. "That does it! Kid, you have to go back and get your partners. Soul and I will go after them before they're out of sight!"

Kid nodded. Maka flew away to follow the helicopter while Kid summoned Beelzebub again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well, this got longer than I thought it would. ^^' I, myself, hate my own original character, Ren Hiro. What Black Star told Ragnarok about their encounter with Sid-sensei really happened but only in the manga. The blonde dude's name will be revealed on the next chap.


	25. Abduction of the Next Kishin

**A/N: **(I suggest you read this note to avoid confusion.)I had to reread some parts of the previous chapters because I forgot some things (thanks to putting this story on hiatus for more than 3 months). Clarifications again. Ren and Raven aren't using their real first names. Raven is commonly known as Stein Junior or just Junior in school. He's called Raven and Ray-Ray by people close to him. Tsubaki doesn't know Ren and Raven yet since she was gone for almost two months. But she knows Ayame and Daisuke (Ren and Raven's real name). There's only six people who knows that Ren and Raven are siblings (since Raven doesn't want his name as Daisuke or Raven Hiro to be revealed in school). Those people are Licorice, Scarlet, Kid, Crona, Stein and Marie. I'll explain more on the next chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25 Next Kishin<strong>

The students who had been in the party watched Kid as he landed down on the front porch of the school. Ragnarok pushed aside students. "Out of my way!" he shouted as he passed through. He stood in front of Kid and clutched a fistful of his coat, the same thing he did when Kid met him in his human form for the first time. Ragnarok glowered at him. Kid could only stare back at him with solemn eyes. "Where's Crona?" Ragnarok said harshly.

"Let go of him!" Liz and Patty shouted.

"It's fine," Kid said to his partners as he looked at them. Then he returned his gaze to Ragnarok. "Put me down and I'll tell you."

Ragnarok slowly put down Kid but anger was still written all over his face. Kid fixed his coat. "Crona has been captured by Noah and his comrades."

"Great!" Ragnarok said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "First Asura, now Noah? When did Crona become attractive?"

"We're still not even sure why Noah wants Crona so quit your sarcasm."

"She wouldn't have been kidnapped if it wasn't for you so quit telling me what to do!"

"Shut up both of you!" Tsubaki shouted. Both Ragnarok and Kid were dumfounded. It was the first time they heard Tsubaki shout angrily. Kid was going to say something but he stopped when Tsubaki shouted. He and Ragnarok faced Tsubaki. "There's no point in arguing now. Our friends are in danger. We have got to save them. There's no time to lose. Ragnarok, it's not Kid's fault that Crona ran away."

"Whose fault it is then?" Ragnarok said. He finally calmed down but there's still harshness in his voice.

Raven stepped forward. "Ren," he said, trying not to sound nervous.

"Where is she?" Kid asked.

"She ran away."

"Raven, why is it that it's your sister's fault?" Scarlet asked.

Raven faced down. He didn't want to tell Scarlet that Ren bit kid. "She hugged Kid outside the room."

Everyone laid their eyes on Kid. "I knew it!" Ragnarok shouted. "I knew you were cheating."

Tsubaki and the others couldn't believe what Raven said. They stared at Kid, hoping he would say that Ragnarok's wrong.

Kid closed his eyes. "Don't be stupid, Ragnarok," he said. "Just because she hugged me doesn't mean we're in some kind of special relationship already. She was just thanking me." Everyone except Tsubaki, Ragnarok, Black Star, Scarlet and Raven were satisfied by the answer so they started they turned around and started taking to each other. The five unsatisfied people stayed around Kid.

Ragnarok raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for what?"

"I let her bit me," Kid said in a little yet clear voice. He didn't want others to hear. "She's a vampire, Ragnarok."

Scarlet's eyes widened. Ragnarok and Black Star stared at Kid for a while then they placed their lower arms over their stomached and burst out laughing. Ragnarok pointed at Kid. His eyes began to water because of too much laughter. Others kept their face serious. "You… you actually believe that vampires exist?" Ragnarok said then he laughed again.

"Why is it so hard to believe? Haven't you heard of the deaths of the members of the Nakatsukasa Clan in Japan?" Tsubaki flinched. "Policemen suspected that vampires are the ones who killed them."

Ragnarok and Black Star finally stopped laughing. "Am I right, Tsubaki?" Kid asked as he glanced at Tsubaki. Tsubaki nodded.

"Raven…" Scarlet whispered behind Raven.

Raven looked back. "Hmm?"

"Do you know those vampires?"

"No."

Scarlet dropped her gaze to the ground. "Could it be… they're the ones who killed my parents?"

Raven and Licorice stared at each other. Licorice shook her head. "I don't know, Scarlet," Raven said.

"Okay, so you might be right there," Ragnarok said to Kid.

"Yeah," Black Star said. "If this world has witches, zombies and mummies then we really shouldn't be surprised that there are vampires."

Kid sweatdropped. "Then why did you guys laugh?" he said.

Black Star laughed hesitantly. "Sorry, Kid. Why did Ren bite you anyway?"

"Well… since she's a vampire… she wanted to be a human again. The only way to make her human again is to drink the blood of a shinigami."

"Is that true, Raven?" Scarlet whispered to Raven again.

Raven didn't look back. Instead he faced down and nodded.

"So… if that's it, then Ren must be a human already," Ragnarok said as he looked away and wondered where Ren went.

"That means it won't be hard to deal with her now," Black Star said. He crossed his arms against his chest and grinned.

"Are you trying to say that Ren did something wrong that would lead us to capturing her?" Kid asked as he raised an eyebrow at Black Star.

"Why else would she run away when Raven found her?"

"Black Star has a point," Ox said. "So there's a possibility that she's affiliated with Noah."

Everyone stared at Ox. Then Kilik arrived. "Kid," he said. Kid faced him. Kilik held his knees, lowered his upper body and panted. "Azusa-san… said that Ren's no longer in Shibusen. She said that she sensed her go out of Shibusen. She thought she was going home already so she didn't pay much attention to her."

Kid gritted his teeth after hearing the bad news. He faced the members of Spartoi. "Spartoi, we're going after Soul and Maka. The rest, please continue the party without us." He faced Kilik again. "Kilik, please tell Azusa-sensei that we need her to come with us." Kilik nodded. "Kim and Jackie, prepare the helicopters." Kim and Jackie nodded. They ran after Kilik. Other students started to go back inside the school.

"Kid-senpai, we'll come with you!" Scarlet said.

"Sorry, Scarlet, I simply cannot allow it. Freshmen aren't supposed to be involved with this level of mission."

Scarlet frowned.

Raven, who was digging his hands into his black jacket's pockets, stood next to Scarlet and faced Kid. "Ren's my sister," he said sincerely. "Surely, she'll somehow listen to me. Let us come. Please." Kid stared at him for a while. Then he faced Tsubaki. "Tsubaki," he said. Tsubaki faced him. "We got new members." Tsubaki glanced at the freshmen behind him. "Scarlet and Raven?" she asked. Kid nodded.

A smile slowly formed on Scarlet's face while Raven's serious face gradually faded. His eyes widened at what he just heard. Kid turned around to face them again. "Please follow Tsubaki," he said to them. "She'll get you uniforms."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want us to be members of Spartoi?" he said to Kid.

"Of course," Kid said. "You two are the youngest members of it. Welcome to the group."

"Thanks but we don't need uniforms right now."

"We don't?" Scarlet asked as she gave Raven a quizzical look.

"Fine, but if we have another mission next time, you'll have to wear your uniforms," Kid said.

"Deal," Raven said then he finally smiled.

XXX

Maka slowly opened her eyes. She found herself hung on the wall with shackles on her wrists and ankles inside an unfamiliar dark room. "Where… where am I?" she said to herself. She looked to the right and found Soul hung on the wall like her, sleeping. "Soul!" she shouted. Soul slowly woke up.

"Maka…" he said in a little voice. He still felt dizzy.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. I thought you knew."

Soul looked at the wooden door in front of them. "I don't know but I do know that we're probably in the house of Noah."

"More like _under_ the house of Noah," Maka said as she glanced around the room. There was only little light coming from the hallway outside. "It looks like we're in a dungeon after all."

Soul glanced at Maka. "Do you think Kid and the others will find us?"

"As long as they have Azusa-san, they will. Can you change into a scythe?"

"Sadly, no," Soul replied as he stared at the shackles above him. "These shackles seem to suck out my powers. I wonder how much they cost."

Maka sweat dropped. "Does it matter? Wrath probably put magical powers on them or something."

Soul chuckled. "I know. It's not like you can find these in stores."

"We have to find a way to get out from here."

"Can't we just wait for Kid and the others?"

"Are you suggesting that we should just stay here and do nothing?"

"You can sing for me if you want."

"Stop joking around, Soul. Crona's probably really scared right now. We still have to find her. She must be in the house somewhere." Maka stared at the ceiling.

Soul glanced at Maka, faced down and closed his eyes. "You always think about Crona."

"Huh?" Maka uttered as she returned her gaze to Soul.

"For the past days, you've always been talking about Crona. You always tell me how happy you are when she improves."

Maka raised an eyebrow. "Soul… are you jea—," she started.

Soul gritted his teeth. "Have you forgotten that I almost died because of her?"

"No. You almost died because you tried to save me."

"Exactly. I got injured by her for you. And I still can't understand why you love her so much. Sure, she had a bad life. She's someone who you'll be sorry for. But she tried to kill you, Maka. Don't ever forget that."

"I haven't forgotten about it, Soul." She smiled. "And I'll still remember it as long as I can. It's something that makes me want to hate Crona… but I can't hate Crona. She only did _it_ because Medusa told her. That scar of yours… will always be the reminder of your loyalty to me. But even when time comes that that scar will fade away already, I will still not forget what you did for me. I owe you a lot, Soul. I'm sorry… for every wrong I did to you."

Soul smiled. "Does that mean you won't give me anymore of your Maka Chops?"

"Not quite." Maka grinned.

XXX

Crona woke up and found herself on a bed in a dark room. Moonlight passed through the large windows beside the bed. Crona sat up and stooped a bit. She looked to the right and found the blonde guy sitting on a stool. His arms were crossed against his chest and only half of his body was lightened up by the moonlight. "So you've finally waken up," he said. His voice was not familiar to Crona.

"Who-who are you?" Crona asked with a nervous voice. She was still in the dress that Kid gave her

The blonde smiled. "I'm Kazune Yuki, the new apprentice of Noah."

"Kazune? I thought Japanese people are black-haired."

Kazune sweatdropped. "I have American blood."

Crona twitched. "W-wait. What am I saying?" She pointed at Kazune. "You are Raven's friend!"

Kazune raised an eyebrow at Crona. "Who?"

"Raven Hiro. He's… your friend, right?"

"I don't know any Raven Hiro. I only know Ren Hiro."

The image of Ren hugging Kid came back to Crona's mind. She shook her head to forget it. "H-how could you forget your friend? Raven's been worried about you!"

Kazune glared at her, stood up and placed a knife under her chin. "I said… I don't know any Raven Hiro," he repeated but this time, he sounded cold. Crona gulped as she looked up at him with frightened eyes.

"Noah's going to kill you if he sees you like that," Gopher said as he stood at the doorway of the room. Kazune stared at Gopher then slipped back his knife into its pocket on his belt. "Why are you here?" he asked.

"I came to tell you that Ren's back."

Crona twitched. "Ren?" she said in her mind. "Is she… a part of this after all?"

"Where is she?" Kazune asked.

"Downstairs," Gopher replied.

Kazune took one last glance at Crona then turned to Gopher and followed him out of the room. Crona got off from the bed and looked at the window. It was a peaceful night. She wondered where Maka and Soul were and what's going on inside the house. She went to the door and tried to open it but it was locked. Then she heard someone's voice. She hurriedly went back to the bed. The door opened and a guy who liked Noah Greed came in. Crona's eyes widened as Wrath came in and closed the door behind him. He smirked at Crona. Crona slightly whimpered as she tried to cover her lower face with the blanket.

"I heard you're supposed to be the next kishin, Crona Gorgon."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Now we have Kazune in the story. He got mentioned in the previous chapters, right? Well, he's not the same Kazune anymore. His story and Wrath's conversation with Crona will be on the next chap.


	26. Skepticism and Degradation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 26: Incomplete Trust<strong>

Mud puddles soared into the air as the rest of the Spartoi and Licorice roamed on the moist dark forest floor heading to the south. Yumi Azusa, a temporary teacher from Shibusen and a Death Scythe, have given them sufficient information about the location of Noah's so called lair while Professor Franketn Stein, a homeroom teacher and a meister, have instructed them what to do to be able to work out the plan successfully. Licorice, who wasn't used to running, was at the end of the line. Raven saw her panting really hard at the corner of his eye.

"We should stop here for a while and wait for Kid to come back," Jackie said.

Kid went ahead of them using Beelzebub with Liz and Patty to inspect the place and try to find lair without making too much noise. Licorice, Raven and Scarlet sat side by side each other on a fallen large oak tree while the rest stood up and glanced around. It was early morning and the sun had risen a little bit, giving enough light to the surrounding already.

Licorice closed her eyes and sighed. "That was really tiring," she said weakly. She sat between her master and Raven.

Scarlet, who was sitting properly, smiled. "At least we get to rest now," she said.

"You can be used to running if you finally decide to be a student in Shibusen," Raven said as he looked away and placed his hand on his palm. His elbow rested on his knee while his other arm lazily rested on his lap.

When Licorice opened her eyes, they widened at the sight of a lake behind the trees. "Hey, look! There's a lake!" she shouted. Scarlet and Raven flinched. They quickly faced Licorice, covered her mouth and the others shushed her. Scarlet sweat dropped while Raven had an annoyed look on his face. Licorice took off their hands from her mouth. "Let's go there!" she said cheerfully. She stood up.

"Hold it right there," Raven said as he held the hem of Licorice' shirt and pulled her back. "We're here for a mission, not for a fieldtrip."

Licorice pouted her bottom lip. She was back on the tree. "Aww, come on, Raven. Stop being such an extinguisher."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Ex… tinguisher?"

"Yeah." Licorice stood up again. "Because you're such a party pooper."

"What party? I don't see anyone else agreeing with your plan."

Scarlet raised her hand shyly. "I'll come with her."

Raven closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "Alright then let's go," he said without thinking much.

Licorice was surprised that Raven acquiesced to Scarlet but she then giggled. Scarlet picked up her backpack and wore it.

The threesome started to walk towards the lake.

"You three," Harvart called. He looked serious as usual. He stood beside Ox who was discussing something to Kim. The three looked back at Harvart. "When Kid arrives, you're going to be dead." The three kept staring at him emotionless then they finally turned around.

Raven raised his hand as they continued to walk. "Don't worry," he said to Havart who was standing a few meters away from him, "we'll be back before you know it."

XXX

"Wow!" Licorice exclaimed. She pushed her palms down on a huge rock as she laid her eyes on the sparkling clear and greenish lake. The sparkles reflected on her eyes. Scarlet had a smile on her face. She began to clean her rubber shoes using the lake water. Raven just stood beside them, looking uninterested at all. Licorice looked back at him. "Hey, Raven!" she shouted.

Raven got back from his reverie. He twitched when Licorice called him. He faced to her and uttered, "Hmm?"

Licorice held out a camera with both hands. "Can you please take a picture of me with the lake?"

Raven looked away. "No way," he said. "I'm not your photographer."

Licorice frowned. "Why is that you easily agree with Scarlet while to me you don't? That's just unfair of you, Raven."

Raven looked at the browned-hair girl again and sighed. "Give me that," he said harshly. He closed his eyes, snatched the camera from Licorice' hands and gritted his teeth.

Licorice grinned as Raven walked past her. She turned around and called her master. "Master, please come and join me!"

Scarlet raised her head, looking clueless. Then she saw Raven who was looking away, giving her the thought that he was holding the camera reluctantly only. She finally understood what was going on. She went back to the ground, brought her shoes and stood next to Licorice, facing the camera. The lake was behind them. "One… two… three…" Raven said as he signaled his hand. He clicked on the shutter release button. Licorice grinned while Scarlet smiled for the camera. It didn't flash though, much to the girls' surprise.

Licorice opened her eyes. "Hey, Raven," she said calmly. "Why was there no flash?" She and Scarlet walked towards Raven.

"I took it off," Raven said. He was still holding the camera and looking at the picture he took.

"Why is that?"

"It might attract some creatures."

Licorice hugged herself. "Don't say scary things like that." Raven's eyes twitched at her in disbelief. "Anyway, let us see the picture!"

"Here you go." Raven handed Licorice the camera. He turned away from them, looking bored again.

Licorice and Scarlet looked at the picture on the screen of the camera. Scarlet smiled while Licorice frowned. "Let's do it again!" she said.

Raven and Scarlet faced to Licorice and shouted, "What?" in unison.

"Raven, try it again," Licorice said to Raven as he held out of her hand again with the camera. "You failed at the first shot." She smiled.

Raven didn't pick up the camera and instead he made firsts and scowled at Licorice. "What's wrong with the first one?" he said impatiently.

"Only master looked nice there. Your timing was wrong."

"Is it my fault that you're ugly?" Raven shouted this time. Scarlet just sweatdropped. She couldn't stop the two from arguing.

"Nevermind, you blood-sucking freak!" Licorice shouted back as she looked away.

Kid stood in front of the three with a scolding face. The three glanced at him and felt nervous. They all suddenly had the urge to shut up. "Didn't I tell you guys to stay together with the team?" Kid said.

"Sorry, Kid-senpai, we just wanted to look at the lake," Scarlet explained gently, trying not to sound disrespectful.

Kid closed his eyes, sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. "This is not the kind of behavior I want from you three," he said and glanced at the three of them then locked his gaze on Raven who stared at the ground, still looking angry at Licorice. "Raven, since you're the oldest here, you should know better than to act like a little brat."

Raven looked away. "I'm sorry," he said coldly. Scarlet cast a concern look at him.

"I'll tolerate you all this time. Please don't argue like kids out here again. We're on a mission. Focus your mind, senses and prepare for unexpected attacks. I remind you all that you're just neophytes. Demean yourselves. Anyway, I already found the lair. It's time to move on." The three nodded obediently as Kid turned around. They followed him back to the others.

XXX

-A few hours before, early morning but still dark-

"What do you want from me?" Crona asked Wrath coldly.

"I asked you a question first," Wrath said then smiled.

"No, I'm not supposed to be the next kishin."

"Liar! Your mother said so yourself!"

"M-mother?"

"My brother, Greed, told me that Medusa said to him that you're supposed to be next kishin, a replacement of Asura. She was still preparing so Greed decided not to collect you for a while but instead collected your boyfriend… Death the Kid." He smirked. Crona gave him a confused look. "Since he's already dead because of your stupid boyfriend then…"

Crona faced down. "Don't. Call. Him. Stupid."

"Oh? So now you're defending the one who have betrayed you, the one who cheated on you?" He laughed as he paced back and forth in the room.

Crona kept quiet. He knew Wrath was somehow right.

"Speechless, huh?" He showed her a strange smile. "I can see why." He took a chair and sat on it in front of Crona. "By the way, I haven't properly introduced myself. I am a Wrath, brother of Greed, and another physical embodiment of one of the seven deadly sins. I exist to continue my brother's work. I want to… collect you." Crona shivered and looked at him with frightened eyes. She have heard Kid being trapped in the Book of Eibon but she never knew the feeling. She didn't bother asking Kid. And she thought she should have. But then again, she'll get collected anyway and see for herself, so she pushed the thought away.

"Why… why do you want to collect me?"

"Isn't it obvious, child? You're someone special."

"Special?" Crona looked away. "Wh-what's so special about me?" she said weakly.

"Your mother already trained you in becoming a kishin. Your training should be enough. But the madness in you is the thing that's not enough. So as I said a while ago, I'm going to put you into the Book of Eibon so your insanity will grow, just like what happened to your boyfriend." Noah laughed. "Then you're going to forget about him, your friends and all the other people you've known. I will make you… mine." An evil grin formed on his face as he stood up. Crona became weaker as he walked closer. He placed his hand on the end of the bed which made Crona finally get off of the bed and ran to the door. She started pounding on the door and shouting Maka and Soul's name for help. Apparently, she's weak now since Ragnarok isn't inside her body anymore. Wrath grinned as he looked back at Crona who was still in her dress she used for the party, looking like a helpless dog being bathed, trying to get out of the bath room. "You really are such a wimp," Wrath remarked as he turned around while Crona ignored him and continued to pound on the door, tears filling her eyes already. Wrath studied her body and admired her delicate curves, lavender hair and pale skin. He chuckled to himself as he closed his eyes. "You really did inherit your mother's outstanding features."

"Ugh," Crona uttered. Before she could turn around for herself, Wrath pushed her shoulder, making her face to him. He pinned her up against the wall and started planting kiss on her neck. Darkness surrounded them. Crona closed her eyes and shouted Kid's name in fear, as if he would come to rescue. But shouting was useless that time. If anyone in the house would hear, they wouldn't help anyway, unless if they were Maka and Soul. Unfortunately, they were still locked up in the dungeon.

XXX

Meanwhile, Ren came in the house. She scratched her head as she walked through the dark hallway. She looked up and saw Kazune going down on the stair, his hands dug into his dark jeans' pockets. They both stared at each other for awhile then Ren finally smiled at him.

"You're finally back," Kazune said nonchalantly as he placed a hand on Ren's check. He wiped of the remaining spots of Kid's blood with the pad of his thumb.

"Missed me?" Ren teased, savoring the way her servant cared for her even when she just got home.

Kazune faced down. "I… envy him."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Him? You mean…"

"That damn shinigami."

"You're not supposed to be like that, Kazune," Ren said as she turned around, opened a hallway closet and hung her coat inside. "If you continue that pathetic feeling of yours, I'll start calling you envy." Ren smiled behind Kazune. "But then you will be like another Noah."

"I'm just sick of you admiring him. He doesn't even return your feelings so why still hope for him when…"

"When I have you?" Ren said as she turned around. Kazune looked away with a deep red on his face. "Don't be silly, Kazune. Death the Kid is the only person I want… the person I need." She started to walk away. "Now I bet his on his way here along with his friends. Do prepare to greet them."

Kazune watched Ren at the corner of his eyes as she disappeared into the shadows. He felt that she wasn't a vampire anymore and it gave him more motivation to protect her. "Don't worry…" he said quietly, yet with a cold voice, "I will make their stay here an unforgettable memory." He grinned then walked away in the different direction in the corridors.

XXX

Back in the helicopter before the rest of the Spartoi were on their way to Noah's lair, Kid was sitting next to Raven.

"Raven, you're a vampire, right?" Kid whispered to Raven. Raven was shocked at his sudden question. His eyes widened. His pupils narrowed. Kid smiled then sat properly back on his seat. "You don't have to answer. The question seems to be obvious already anyway. If you really came with us to help us, I hope you don't act strange," Kid said. He closed his eyes and made his tone low. "… Or else my theory of you being on your sister's side will be strengthened." It was a good thing they were the only ones sitting at the back seat. If not, someone else other than Raven would hear what Kid said. Raven sensed Kid's incomplete trust on him. This made him comfortable but he decided to not pay attention much to his words… because he knew he was on the good side. And he wanted to keep it that way.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm thinking of changing the rating from T to M but I'm not sure if that's necessary since what _happened_ in the second scene was just… mild… I guess? Anyway, I wonder what age is Wrath. I'm guessing it's around 18-30. And Crona is… 14-16. Sorry for the sadistic nature of Wrath. (Poor Crona. Tsk.) Kid will have to beat the crap out of him if he finds out what he did to Crona.


	27. The World Behind Her Wall

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 27: Regret<strong>

"I wonder if giants live here," Liz said.

Spartoi stood in front of large doors, bigger than the one for the room used for the Christmas Party.

"So we're going to barge in?" Licorice asked as she stared up at the doors. Everyone glanced at her. She looked to the right and left at their faces and gave them a quizzical look. She wondered why they were all looking at her.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Black Star said to Kid. Kid looked at Licorice, smiled and nodded.

XXX

Licorice stood alone in front of the large door of the house. She still couldn't believe why the others decided to make her bait. She didn't mind though. In fact, she was excited to see the inside of the house. She hummed a song to herself while the others hid behind trees and bushes.

"Kid… I don't think it was a good idea to leave Licorice there," Liz said to her meister. She hid behind the wall with him and her sister as she looked at Lico from afar. "They'll easily get her."

"That's the point, Liz. Anyway, Lico is a good choice since she's like a kid."

Liz gave Kid a bored look. "Yeah, right, she looks like Little Red Riding Hood in that dress we gave her."

"Isn't that your dress?"

Liz raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Stop acting like you don't know, Liz," Kid said as he held onto the tree and returned his focus to Licorice who was now knocking on the door. "I've seen that dress in your drawers." Liz almost dropped her jaw to the ground in disbelief of what she just heard. She thought if Kid could open her drawers in her room, then he must have seen her journal. This made her nervous. Kid looked back. "By the way, I've seen your journal but I haven't read anything so don't you worry." Liz sighed in relief. They suddenly heard a loud high pitch scream. Kid's eyes widened. "That's Licorice!" He turned around and started to run towards Licorice who was being dragged by Gopher inside the house. The rest didn't dare to come out. Kid commanded them not to come out if he doesn't say so. Before the huge doors closed, He summoned Beelzebub, threw it between the closing doors. He ran pass through the doors, picked up Beelzebub and the doors closed behind him. Inside it was dark with only a little amount of light coming from torches on the walls. Kid swept his gaze around the room. He began to walk in the hallways.

XXX

"Oh, dear," Liz said as she closed her eyes, and touched her forehead with the tip of her fingers while her other hand rested on her hip. "He forgot us again." Patty just giggled. Apparently, Kid was too much in a hurry, he forgot to bring Liz and Patty.

XXX

"Where's Crona?" Kid asked with a serious face at Gopher.

Gopher smiled. "So we meet again." He turned around.

Kid saw Licorice eating sweets at the table. She waved hello at him.

"Well, she seems to be okay," Kid thought.

"Crona is in master's bedroom," Gopher replied.

Kid flinched, made fists, gritted his teeth and glared at Gopher. He did not like the idea of Crona being in a stranger's room. "What the hell is she doing there?"

Gopher looked to the right and saw the huge flat screen TV. He took the remote out of his pocket. He smiled. "This should answer your question. You may take a seat."

Licorice and Kid stared at the TV. "Crona senpai!" Licorice shouted as she dropped her fork on her plate.

"Crona…" Kid whispered as he saw Crona being so close to Noah. He suddenly felt his legs weaken. He held a dining room chair for support then he watched Gopher leave the room. He sat down and watched the TV.

XXX

"He doesn't want you anymore," Noah whispered in Crona's ear. Crona was trembling. She did not know what Noah could do to her if she tried to attack him. She has never seen him before. She only knew that it was best not to provoke him or else she'll have to face his wrath. He was still holding her wrists, pinning her to the door. "Shibusen holds a grudge on witches for a very long time," Noah continued. "You actually thought that the son of the shinigami would fall in love with the daughter of the evil witch Medusa?" He chuckled in her ear. "Of all the people who would love you, why him? How absurd. He was just playing with you, Crona. You've seen what happened with your very own eyes. He was interested with another girl, a girl who deserves his love."

Crona's eyes narrowed as she bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back the tears. She was too hurt inside to talk. To her, Noah had a point. This other girl he was talking about was Ren Hiro, the girl who looked symmetrical like Kid, someone intellectual, modest and respected. In short, someone who isn't like Crona at all. She never thought she would be jealous of someone else. "All my life…" she finally said without looking at the person in front of her, standing a few inches from her. Noah looked at her in surprise. She hasn't uttered a word for a long time. "I cared about nothing except Medusa-sama. I suppressed… my own desires in an attempt to make sure she was happy. I had to obey all her commands to keep her from being angry at me. She would neglect me in any way she can. I never wanted that so I never thought about other things. It was like… I began to accept that my existence is just for her. But then…"

Noah raised an eyebrow. "Then what?" He was getting interested in her story already and little by little he felt sorry for her.

"But then I met Maka. She made me see the world behind my wall. She showed me that there's more to life… than just living for someone else. Then an enemy of mine became friends with me. Kid dropped into my life… and gradually into my heart." Noah twitched. "He… proved to me how much he loves me despite that we shouldn't be together because we came from groups of people who hate each other." A smile formed on Cron's face as she remembered the time she and Kid went to the museum. She let out a sad sigh. "Just like… Romeo and Juliet," she said softly, thinking that the story of them might also end up tragically. "I didn't know why Ren was hugging Kid. Maybe I shouldn't have run away." Tears started to run down her face again. "But it's my first time to feel this way. They say it's called jealousy. They say you should fight for the person you love… but I ran away. I… I didn't know what to do. I never thought it would be this painful to see Kid… smiling in someone else's arms."

Noah grunted. Then he slowly let go of Crona's wrists. Crona cupped her face with her hands as she continued to sob. Noah watched her for a while. Honestly, he wasn't sure if he should comfort her or if he should scold her. It was his first time to see someone crying. He looked away and thought, "I guess Ren really did a good job in doing her part." He returned his gaze to the pinekette. "Look," he said as he held Crona's face and looked into her tearful powder blue eyes. "It's not your fault that someone else is better than you and it's also not your fault that your stupid boyfriend likes that someone more than you.

Crona looked down at the floor. "Maybe it's best if I didn't become friends with him. We wouldn't have gone far. We would have just stayed as strangers or enemies. Maybe that… could have been better."

"It's time to forget him, Crona. From the start, it was foolish to think of allowing yourself to fall in love with that young reaper. A shinigami is and will always be a shinigami, an entity who's against witches. You are simply not meant to be." Crona stared at Noah's sincere eyes and began to realize his point. Their faces drew close to each other. Their eyes slowly closed as their noses touched. Noah's hand started to run through Crona's hair.

XXX

"I can't take this anymore," Kid said as he faced down and covered his eyes with the palm of his hands. Gopher turned off the TV and a smirk formed on his face. Kid and Licorice were given a chance to see Crona and Noah and listen to their conversation. Licorice abruptly stood up. "Hey, why did you close the TV?" she asked Gopher. "They were about to…" she stopped when she saw Kid looking degraded on his seat at the far end of the table. Gopher just smiled and looked down at her. She frowned at the sight of Kid. She slowly walked towards him and placed a hand on his should. "Kid-senpai, we still have to look for your girlfriend, right?"

Kid took off his hands from his face and stood up. "You've seen her face, Licorice. She was full of tears because of me. I… I don't know how I can face her now." He stood up but kept looking at the ground as he dug his hands into his pockets. "Noah's right. Crona and I… shouldn't be together."

Licorice gave Kid a confused look and said, "Whaaattt? Don't listen to him! He doesn't know everything!" she pleaded as she pulled Kid's sleeves.

"Come on, Lico," Kid said nonchalantly. "It's time to go home." He shoved off her hand and started walking out of the room.

Licorice slowly closed her mouth and watched Kid walk away. "I… I can't believe this," she said in her mind then she ran after Kid. Gopher followed them.

XXX

"Well, thank you for your visit," Gopher said to Kid. He received a glare from Licorice before she turned around. Kid didn't respond nor look at Gopher.

Gopher closed the huge doors.

The rest of the Spartoi ran towards Kid.

"Hey, Kid!" Black Star said. "What happened in there?"

"Nothing. Let's just go back now." He walked through them with his head still low.

Black Star raised an eyebrow as he watched him. "What are you talking about?" he shouted at Kid. "We just came here and now you want us to leave just because you already went inside?"

Kid stopped walking. He did not reply. The others knew that there'll be a fight so they stayed away. Black Star grunted. "Acting cool again, huh?" he said in a little voice then he walked towards Kid. He grabbed his shoulder and made fim face to him. "You can't just tell us to go home without explaining! Maka, Soul and Crona's still in there, remember? I thought you're a smarty pants!"

"I don't deserve to live," Kid murmured to himself.

Black Star gritted his teeth. "Hey, listen I'm talking to you!"

"We shouldn't have been friends," Kid murmured to himself again. He was still facing down.

"That's it!" Black Star made a fist and was going to punch Kid on the face already.

"Black Star!" shouted Tsubaki, Liz and Patty.

Kid glared at Black Star and stopped his punch with his hand. "You don't get it, do you?" he finally said, giving Black Star a cold look. "It's no use saving Crona. She regrets becoming friends with all of us. And it's my entire fault." The others gasped at what they heard. Kid let go of Black Star's fist, turned around, and continued walking.

"Kid, we should at least save Maka and Soul," Tsubaki said.

"Yeah, don't tell us that you plan for us to leave without Maka and Soul," Ox said.

"They can save themselves and when they do, they can save Crona if they want."

"That's… that's crazy! What if they can't save themselves? We have to make sure."

Kazune jumped off a tree and stood in front of Kid which made him halt. He smirked at Kid. "You're friend's right," he said. "You still have to make sure."

Raven's eyes widened. "Ka-Kazune?" he shouted. Kazune ignored him.

"That's Kazune?" Licorice and Scarlet said in unision as they and Raven looked at Kazune.

Kid glared at Kazune. He could sense trouble already.

Kazune crossed his arms against his chest and stood firm. Then he said, "You're not going to leave this place unless you go through me first."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** They'll surely be a fight but I just want to remind that I'm not good at writing action scenes. ^^ Anyway, This chapter wasn't well thought out actually (not like the previous chapter) but... I hope it wasn't that bad. Kid was being emo. Haha. I actually kinda cried at writing one part of this chapter. -_- That reminds me... I wonder where Ren went. (I should know since I'm the author but I actually don't know yet.) Well, I might update tomorrow or on Monday.


	28. Crona and The Book of Eibon

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 28: Book of Eibon<strong>

"Blood Needle."

Crona had cut her wrist with a blade she always brought with her. Unfortunately, the person in front of her, standing a few inches, didn't notice it. He twitched when he heard what Crona said even though the words weren't familiar to him. When an image of Kid smiling at Crona appeared in her mind, she looked away and she said the two words firmly yet gently, preventing herself from getting kissed by Noah on the lips. This made Noah give her a quizzical look. Droplets of black blood were on the floor. They fused and became black needles, flew towards Noah and stabbed him.

"Ugh," Noah uttered when he felt the pain of Crona's black needles almost all over his body. His body stiffened as his eyes widened. Crona could only stare at him nervously, hoping what she did work. Maroon blood started to leak out from his slightly open mouth. He slowly fainted on Crona. His head landed on the nape of her neck.

Crona literally screamed and pushed him away from her. She ran to the other side of the room and stood beside the large windows near the bed. She looked at Noah who has fallen down, drowned in his blood. Crona breathed heavily as her heart raced up. She looked at the window and saw that there was no tree outside and that they were on a high floor. She could use bloody needle again to break the windows and her devil wings to escape from the place. She returned her gaze back to Noah who still remained looking lifeless already near the door. She slowly stretched her left arm and let her black blood fall on the floor while still keeping an eye on Noah. The droplets of her blood, again, formed into needles and following their purpose, they flew towards the windows and break them.

XXX

"Why are you doing this? This is not like you!" Raven shouted. He was already pinned down on the ground by Kazune. His bestfriend smirked at him.

"Why else? I'm just doing my job," Kazune retorted.

Raven's eyes narrowed as he grunted. He glared at the blonde. Kazune was supposed to fight Kid but Raven insisted to Kid that he should talk to him first. Kid acquiesced. Kazune refused to talk to Raven so they eventually ended up fighting each other without weapons.

"Raven!" Scarlet and Licorice shouted. They were about to ran to him.

Kid stretched out his arms and blocked the two, giving them a sign not to go. "It's their battle," he reminded them.

"When did serving Noah become _your _job?" Raven shouted again at Kazune.

Kazune chuckled. "None of your business," he said then took out his knife. Licorice, Scarlet and the others gasped when they saw the silver knife. "First, I'll start with you then the others shall follow."

Black Star grunted at the sight. "Tsubaki, chain scythe mode," he whispered. Tsubaki nodded. Suddenly Scarlet pushed away Kid's arm and ran towards Kazune and Raven. Tsubaki discontinued transforming into a weapon when she saw Scarlet.

At the corner of his eyes, Raven spotted Scarlet running towards them. He faced to the right as his eyes widened. "Idiot!" he said in a little voice.

"Hmm?" Kazune said then looked away and saw Scarlet, sensing that she'll do karate. He quickly got off of Raven and prepared to attack Scarlet. Raven placed his hand on the ground for support as he sat up and transformed his other arm into his partial weapon form. Disc-shaped silver blade hit Kazune's knife and made it fall to the ground. The blade continued to fly and hit a branch of a tree. The others were shocked. It was their first time to see Raven's weapon form. Kazune grunted as he scowled at Raven held his wrist. The disc blade hit some of his fingers which caused to wound them. Raven stransformed his arm back to normal. Scarlet jumped and attempted to kick Kazune on the face but Kazune quickly returned his gaze to Scarlet, held the ankle of her stretched out leg and spun her around with an evil grin on his face. Scarlet fell on Raven who was still on the ground. Raven squinted and gritted his teeth.

"Oof!" Scarlet uttered when she landed on Raven and closed her eyes. "S-sorry, Raven," she said weakly.

Raven sweat dropped. "It's… okay." He held her shoulders. "Let's do this," he said as he looked up at Kazune who was smiling, crossing his arms against his chest, standing firmly in front of them. Scarlet glanced back at Raven then nodded. She stood up and Raven changed into his complete weapon form. Scarlet grabbed him and prepared herself to attack Kazune. The smile on Kazune's faded.

"Raven… I don't understand why Kazune is fighting you… but I know for sure… that's he's not the same as you knew him before."

Raven looked away. "Yeah, I kind of noticed that already."

"Aren't we supposed to help them?" Liz said, raising an eyebrow.

Kid closed his eyes. "No," he replied. "We got more important things to do."

Liz stared at Kid for a while and smiled. "So you finally changed your mind?"

Kid opened his eyes and smiled at Liz. "I just remembered that I actually folded the tip of the toilet paper into a triangle back at home so there's no need to go back."

Liz sweat dropped. "I thought you want to come home because you don't want to save Crona anymore."

Kid chuckled. "That's the other reason." He turned around and smirked. "Well, it's time to save Crona! Liz, Patty, change to weapons."

"Kay~!" Patty said cheerfully then she and her big sister began to fade into pixels and transformed into weapons while Scarlet fought with Kazune.

Suddenly they heard a loud sound of breaking of glass. All of them paused and looked up and saw the falling pieces of broken glass windows then a bright white light came of the room. Spartoi and Kazune backed away so the pieces of glass won't hit them. They heard someone scream from the room. "That must be Crona!" Kid said and gritted his teeth. He stood in front of the house' large doors and Liz and Patty who turned into Death Canon guns, started counting.

XXX

The bloody needles broke the large glass windows. Before Crona could escape from the room with her devil wings, Noah reached for the Book of Eibon hanging on his side, opened it and threw it on the floor near Crona. It emitted a bright light and Crona found herself getting sucked into the book. She screamed for help but her scream faded. Noah chuckled then slowly stood up. He slowly took out some of the bloody needles still stuck on his body as he grinned devilishly. He walked towards the book and picked it up.

XXX

A large hole formed on the huge front doors of the lair. Kazune grunted at this. He was already wrapped with Tsubaki's hair that turned into chains. "You are all going to pay for this!" he shouted.

Spartoi except Raven and Scarlet looked back.

"Go ahead," Raven said. "Well take care of Kazune."

The rest of the spartoi continued walking as they entered the lair. Kazune raised an eyebrow as he glanced at Raven. "H-how did you know my name?" he said.

"You're my bestfriend, Kazune. How could I not know?"

Scarlet and Licorice smiled at Raven.

"Ohh." Kazune closed his eyes and smiled. "You're Raven, right?"

The blonde's question made Raven uncomfortable. He somehow couldn't believe that Kazune wasn't sure about his name. "Yeah…" he said softly.

"I can take you to Ren, if you want."

Black Star pointed at Kazune's nose with his other hand on his hip. "I don't trust you one bit!" he said.

Kazune looked away. "Fine then," he said with a bored expression.

"Black Star-senpai, he can show us where Maka and Soul are!" Scarlet said.

"As if he'll do it!"

Kazune glared at Black Star. "And what if I do?" he said.

"Then prove it! Come on Tsubaki!" He turned around and smirked. "We're going in," he said in a little voice.

XXX

"Ragnarok, please lead Spartoi while I'm gone," Kid said.

Ragnarok looked back. "And where are you going?"

Kid summoned Beelzebub. "I'll check the room where the light came from."

Raven turned around. "Whatever, reaper boy. Hey, you all heard that, didn't you?" he shouted at Spartoi and pointed at himself with his thumb. "I'll be leading this team for now."

Jackie and Kim rolled their eyes.

XXX

At the end of the seven chapters of the Book of Eibon lies insanity. Crona never thought that one day, what happened to Kid, would happen to her. She could perceive nothing. She only felt cold. She could remember how she was brought inside one of the many creations of Eibon. She laid in darkness in fetal position, cried herself to slumber as she painfully tried to forget who Death the Kid was to her. Her sanity was undesirably disappearing gradually and she felt she had no more strength left in her to fight against it. Not after when the person she trusted the most, who she thought had an unwavering loyalty, broke her already excruciating heart that at least felt ecstasy for a short time in her life. She was too weak to even talk, to call for help. But she thought, "What's the use in calling for help? It's not like anyone would hear. It's not like I'll be happy to see the world again and all of the people who pretends to care for me." Even so she found herself smiling as she closed her eyes, tried to remember all that happened for the last time. She decided to hope and regret nothing anymore. She was now fully aware that she was at the state of nothingness. Her head dipped and her tears stopped from falling. "It was nice knowing you… Kid," she gently said as she fell asleep with insanity taking over her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** The last paragraph is taken from chapter 1.


	29. Night of the Vampire Ambush

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 29: Reminiscence Part I **

-Ren's POV-

Huff… huff… huff…

My mind was almost blank. That time, I couldn't think of anything else except saving myself from the blood thirsty vampire that was after me. I ran for my life through the thick forest, pushed away leaves that blocked me, stepped on muddy. I started to run away from our house when I had the chance to escape already, when the vampires finally gave up on looking for me in my room. I hid myself inside the secret door behind my wooden closet. When I heard them step out my room, I finally crept out of the hidden small room inside my bedroom. I quietly stepped out.

The door of my room was open and I saw that there was fire downstairs. I saw the reflection of the fire on the wall outside my room since the stairs that leads to downstairs was next to my room across the wall. I nervously went to the door with tears in my eyes and hands on my chest. My body was sweaty already from all the tension.

Vampires have invaded us in our house, the house dad built with his brothers in the forest. I have always heard stories from mom that she and other members of the Nakatsukasa clan have been fighting vampires for many years already. But she said that they weren't still able to eliminate them all. There were still leftovers. And they were there on the first floor of our house, avenging their dead relatives.

I went outside the room and quietly ran toward the stairs, hoping I could still save mom and dad. My eyes widened. I covered my mouth with my hands. The fire reflected on my eyes. I trembled in fear at the sight of the vampires disgustingly devouring my parents' blood on the floor. I saw the terrified looks on my parents before they lost conscious.

The tears that have been filling in my eye sockets have finally ran down on my face. I felt my legs weakened. I knew for sure that mom and dad were already gone and I felt so hopeless. I held on to the wall while my other hand was still covering my mouth. Suddenly I heard a scream coming from outside our house. No doubt it was Daisuke, my little brother. My heart sank. How could I forget my little brother?

I took one last glance at my parents. I was standing at the top of the stairs. I bit my lips and narrowed my eyes. I realized I couldn't do anything more to them already. I hurriedly went back to my room without making too much noise. I picked up my bow and arrows then jumped out of the window and started climbing down the tree. I went to the front yard of our house and saw Daisuke.

"Let go of me!" Daisuke screamed. Two adult vampires were holding him down, ready to bite him. I glared at them.

-Raven's POV-

I closed my eyes. The laughter of the vampires that were holding me finally came to a shock, much to my surprise. I felt their grip on me loosen then I heard a thud on the ground. I opened my eyes and saw that the vampires have fallen down beside me. Arrows were sticking out of their heads. I gasped as I felt hope. I looked away. From the distance, I saw my big sister walking towards me with a bow in her hands. "Aya!" I shouted in my head. I ran towards her. I was about to hug her but she suddenly handed me her bow and arrows. I looked down at them in shock.

"Take these and run," my sister told me with harshness in her voice. I could clearly sense her despair.

At first I didn't get it but the weird noises produced by the vampires in the house made me flinch. "B-but how about you?" I said to her frantically.

"I'll somehow transform into a weapon. Since you can't really transform into your weapon form, you have to take these."

I heard the vampires growl inside the house. Ayame glanced at the house then looked down at me again. She held my shoulder and stared at me solemnly.

"Listen," she said. "Mom and dad are dead already. We have to save ourselves. Let's run to the city but you have to go first. I'll try to slow them down. We'll see each other again, okay?"

My breathing stopped for a few second after hearing from Ayame that our parents were dead already. She wasn't the kind of person of who would joke so I instantly believed her. Tears started to leak out of my eyes as I stared in to my sister's eyes. She looked like she was in more pain than me.

I heard another growl. I had the feeling the vampires were about to come out of the house already. I couldn't move. Ayame glared at me. She grunted.

"Run!" she shouted at me then pushed me. I fell to the ground and saw the vampires coming out of our house. My eyes widened. I pushed myself up then started running. I looked back and saw my sister partially transformed her arm into a ninja sword. I heard the evil laughter of the vampires behind them. They were after me. The more reason I sped up through the woods, making leaves rustle.

"Aya…" I thought. I worried for my sister. I shook my head. "This is not the time to think of her safety. She insisted me to save myself and I have to focus." My heart kept pounding hard in my chest. I heard the sounds the vampires were making as they ran after me. I gradually stopped running when I heard the sounds stop. I turned around and saw that Aya had slashed their heads already. I was relieved to see her. I thought she was still back at home, fighting with the vampires. My face brightened up but I only received a serious look from her.

"I told you to run, didn't I?" Ayame shouted. "Did I tell you to stop?"

"But Aya-chan, I couldn't leave you!"

"Baka!"

A vampire suddenly appeared from behind a tree and pinned down Aya on the ground. I saw him drooled with a malicious look on his face and I saw the fear on my sister's face. I glared at the vampire then shot him with an arrow on his neck. He screamed and eventually fell down. Aya looked surprise. She pushed the vampire away from her. I smiled at my small success but then I saw silhouettes of another group of vampires. I gasped. They slowly walked toward my sister.

Aya partially transformed her hands into sickles of double chain scythes. She turned around to face me and said, "Go on! Leave without me! I see you have only 2 arrows! Save that for later!" I gulped and nodded obediently. I turned around then started running. I heard slashing of bodies behind them and tried to ignore them. I prayed for my sister's safety.

-Ren's POV-

I was relieved to see my brother run away. At least I knew he has a chance to survive. I constantly hit the vampires coming to me with my blades. But they were too many. I hit one last vampire, turned around and started running. I honestly didn't know if I was going to survive but I kept telling myself to run as fast as I can. I didn't care about the laughter behind me, the words that were intended to mock me a mere human with an ability to transform into a weapon. But I thought that vampires were weaker than me. They tend to depend on humans to stay healthy. They couldn't really stay long under the sun. They were suckers. I kept reminding myself that they were suckers, pathetic living things whose hearts probably don't beat anymore, which would explain why they look for blood because they couldn't regulate anymore.

I finally got out of the forest but unfortunately I found myself at a cliff. I told myself that maybe I shouldn't have thought badly about vampires. Ending up at that place, I thought, must have been my punishment. But they deserved all the bad comments… because they were close to being devils. I wasn't sure if I had to take pity on them. They were probably misunderstood creatures who just want to live but we kept thinking they're evil because they suck blood to stay alive. I had these thought as I turned to the vampires while walking back. I felt rocks fall from behind me. I nearly fell. I took a step forward and transformed my hands back to normal. I asked myself how I will ever understand vampires, who had always been enemies to our clan and our society. I thought maybe I could talk to them. That was such a stupid idea but I wanted to try it. But instead, I was forced to become one of them.

"What's the matter, little girl?" asked one of the vampires. "Tired of fighting already?" I was exactly little. In fact, I was too tall for my age. I glared at the vampire for giving me two insults.

"No," I replied with a firm voice. "I figured I should be a pioneer."

"Pioneer?" The vampires gave me quizzical looks. "Of what?" I heard some of them started chuckling.

"I want to be the first from our clan to be able to understand you vampires. I don't want to fight you anymore."

The vampire smirked. "Interesting. After all those vampires you killed who were our friends, you've decided to understand vampires?" He laughed and turned around. I could only look at him with a serious face. I glanced to the right and saw the ground that was far away below the cliff. The vampire held the shoulder of his friend, smiled and whispered to his ear. "Kill her."

My eyes widened. The friend of the vampire who was also a vampire started walking toward me. I transformed my hand into a sword then made a back flip. The vampires were shocked but that one vampire actually went after me who fell from the cliff. I stuck the sword on the slope to prevent me from falling. I held onto the surface of the sword with my other hand. I looked down and saw the ground was still far away from me. The vampire who came after me has fallen to the ground already. Now there was a vampire below me and vampires above me. I figured the vampires above me will give up and go away but the one who has fallen to the ground, I thought, was probably dead already or is probably waiting for me. Sweat was falling down on my face. I knew that I won't last long in hanging there. I had to either climb up or fall down. Either way, I would fall down. If I try to climb up, with one mistake, I could fall. I'm not a super human so I would of course die. But I thought of another way. I transformed my hands into blades of chain scythes again then started climbing down. It was like mountain climbing that you can do in real life and in malls. It was really dark already and I was getting far from the city, which wasn't my objective at all but I thought I should manage somehow. I had to focus on what's in front of me or the present. At last, I was on the ground, safe and sound. Or that was I thought. The vampires from above and the vampire who have fallen down gathered around me and I was so surprised. I thought they'd leave me already. After all the effort I exerted to be able to go back to ground, thinking I could escape from the group of vampires… there they were again. So my efforts went to waste. But I still tried to stay strong and didn't show fear. I scowled at them all. My hands were still blades and they were dirty with soil.

"Now where were we?" the one who was supposed to kill me said.

"I wanted to be nice to you all but you just keep giving me more reason to kill you all," I told them through gritted teeth.

"Look, kid," the vampire who first spoke to me said, "you may have killed our friends but those friends of ours were bunch of idiots." He took out a gun. "Which do you prefer? Die from shooting you with this gun? Or die from being blood sucked by my friend? My way's faster though."

"Are you stupid?" I said. "Who would want to die? Asking that question makes you sound more stupid than you already look like."

The vampire smirked. He closed his eyes and faced down. "I actually admire you, girl. Even though you have no chance of escaping from us, you still keep going on. Though you already know your parents are dead, you still have the strength to fight us even when you already know you're no match for us. You may be a member of the Nakatsukasa Clan but you're going to be one of those members who we killed with in less than a minute."

I gasped as my hatred towards vampires increased. They were probably twent vampires surrounding me. I really thought I couldn't escape. There was no way I could escape from these fast-moving maniacs. I transformed my hands back to normal again and looked down. I have decided. I would let myself get killed.

The vampire who was supposed to kill me smiled as he saw that I gave up. He stood in front of me and held my neck. He raised my head. I grunted. "I saw what you did for your brother," he whispered. My eyes widened in shock. He was giving me a few words before I die. I could tell he smiled. "You still want to see him someday, right? But what if you saw him, he doesn't like you anymore? How would you react? You would hate him, right?"

"I… I guess so…" I whispered back as I watched the starry sky above me. I was actually nervous already. Red eyes were glowing around us and the vampire in front of me still kept holding my neck, breathing. I wasn't sure what the vampire was trying to tell me. I did know I would face death already. But that vampire was giving me a hint that I will stay alive. But still, I felt his fans sank into my neck. I cringed, moaned in pain as my hands twitched, my body stiffened and weakened.

Before I fainted, the vampire pulled out his fangs, wiped his mouth with his wrist and looked at me. His face had a mixture of my blood and my tears that have fallen from my face to his when he was still devouring my blood. "Welcome to immorality," I heard him say then my eyes gradually closed. I felt arms caught me that prevented me from falling to the ground. Next thing I knew I was in a dark abyss.

-Raven's POV-

I accidentally tripped. There was a vampire lady who was chasing me after all. When I was on the ground, she crawled on top of me, ready to bite me. I was so terrified, I couldn't move. I asked myself, "is this really the end of me already?" I felt the fangs of the lady on my neck already. I screamed in pain as I tried to push her away. But she held me tight and disgustingly went on devouring my blood. I tried hard to transform my hand into partial weapon form. I never actually practice which is why I thought it won't be successful but I mustered up all the strength I had left. Astonishingly, my hand did turn into partial weapon form. Disc-shaped razors came out and sliced the vampire in front of me while I was closing my eyes. Blood of the vampire fell on my body and my face. I quickly stood up and glared on the dead vampire at my feet. "Hmph," I uttered. I transformed my hand back to normal. "That was crazy," was all I could say in my head. It was still dark and I couldn't clearly see the surrounding but good thing I didn't bump when I was running. "Had fun drinking my blood, lady? Must have been so tasty," I whispered and smirked. But my smirk faded when I remembered Ayame. "I hope she's fine," I thought. I picked up the bow and arrow, took one last glance at the dead vampire and started walking. I reached a neighborhood, much to my relief. I saw lights were on. I thought it was probably 5 a.m. in the morning. Damn. My wrist watch got broken when I fell down. My head started to get dizzy. It must have been the effect of the vampire's bite or I must have been just really sleepy and tired already. Either way, I have fainted on a bench near a street and streetlight. I didn't care if people would see me when the sun rises. When I woke up, I found myself in an unfamiliar bedroom. I opened my still tired eyes and felt the warm of the sun ray coming from the window next to the bed. I remembered that I slept on a bench, not a bed! I quickly sat up and saw a blonde guy sitting in front of a desk, turned away from me. My eyes blinked fast for a few seconds, trying to make my vision clear. The guy turned his revolving chair and looked surprise at me.

"Oh, you're finally awake," he said and smiled. "Well, good morning."

"Uhm…" I said. "Good morning. Where am I?"

"Well, you're in my house. I saw you sleeping outside outside when I took out the trash and noticed you sleeping on the bench. You were bloody all over so I cleaned you up and changed your shirt while you were unconscious."

"What the heck is with this guy?" I thought as I gave him a weird look. "He actually took advantage me while I was asleep."

"Hmm?" he uttered. "What's with the face?"

"You… you changed my clothes?"

"Why, yes. Problem?" He raised an eyebrow.

I closed my eyes and face palmed myself. "Don't tell me this dude is a gay," I thought. "Oh, nothing," I said. Then I noticed my hands have bandages. I took off my hand from my face and looked at it with my other hand.

The blonde dude stood up. "Oh and I put that bandages on you since you have wounds there." He took his cup of the desk and started drinking hot chocolate milk. "Here, have some." He handed me the cup.

I glared at him and pushed away the cup. The cup fell to ground. Still he looked calm as he gazed down at me who was obviously angry. It was as if he was waiting for me to say something. He ignored the broken cup that shattered into pieces and the drink that spilled on the floor.

"Just who the hell do you think you are? I never said I needed anyone's help especially from a pervert like you! You should have left me bleeding at the bench than brought me here. Now I have to pay you for your kindness. And getting pity from other people is never my intention."

The blonde was quiet for a while, glancing at me with a blank expression. He finally closed his eyes and smiled. "And you said nothing to my question if there's a problem. If I'm a pervert, you're a liar." He turned around and sat on his chair across the bed then looked at me. This time, he looked serious. "I'm Kazune Ryou. I'm just a normal teenager living alone since his parents are in abroad for work. I understand that you probably went through a fight or something but you should accept my help to you. You really think you need to pay me?" He chuckled. "Before I helped you, I thought if I really should help you. I'm not the kind of person who would pay attention to the ones in need like the beggars you can find somewhere in this city so you should be thankful that you became an exception. Sure, you never asked but do you actually think I still needed you to ask? You were bleeding, for Pete's sake. Don't be such a child. I know you're 13 or 14 now so grow up a little, will you? You should try fixing your manners too. Are you some kind of delinquent who doesn't have gratitude? Look, all of us go through hard times but we must control ourselves. Otherwise, we'll be miserable than we already are."

His profound words struck me and kept me speechless. I finally understood. My head dipped, my bangs covered my eyes. "Th… thank you," I said. It came out really quiet.

Kazune stood up. I looked up at him and saw him smile. "I'll forgive you for breaking my favorite cup." He tossed an eyeglass on the bed. I glanced the thing in front me. "You'll be using that."

"What for?" I asked. "My eye sight is still good."

Kazune chuckled. "It's not an ordinary eye glass. I especially created it for you. Just in case your surrounding becomes dark, your eyes wouldn't glow red with them."

"You're not making any sense. My eyes don't glow red."

"Oh, it will now. You're a vampire already after all."

"Huh?" I gave him a quizzical look.

"The bite mark on your neck. Isn't it created by a vampire?"

"I held my neck." Then I remembered yesterday. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Yesterday, a vampire was after me in the woods. She bit me but I managed to kill her."

"Good. You would have died. But now you're a vampire and I think you're just half." He turned around and fixed the papers on his desk, arranging them.

"How can you say that?"

"I study about vampires. I could tell by just looking at you."

I gave him an I-can't-believe-you stare. "I see," I said sarcastically. I picked up the eyeglasses and wore it. I can still clearly see with them. I noticed my watch and surprisingly, it was fixed. "Uh. Hey, do you know what happened to my watch? It used to be broken."

"I fixed it."

"Are you an…"

Kazune turned around to face me. "An inventor? Why yes. That reminds me… come down after you take a bath. Lunch is ready."

"O-okay…" I said hesitantly. The dude was seriously weirding out. I couldn't clearly tell is he was really straight.

Kazune held the door knob. "Oh, and by the way. I wasn't the one who changed your clothes. My little friend who lives next door came here and helped me with that." He chuckled then closed the door. I was left inside, shocked. Now it was more embarrassing if it was someone else who did it. I thought what if it was a girl. It turns out that it was a little boy probably 8 years old. Days passed. Kazune and I became good friends. He wasn't gay after all. In fact, he had a girl friend already who he break up with when the girl was about to die from cancer already. It was the girl's request and Kazune acquiesced. When he told me about his girlfriend who died, I felt so sad for him. He said he never expected her to have cancer. I also told him about what happened to my family. Then he got interested with helping me find my sister.

We've been trying to find Ayame but it has been months already and we still haven't found her. We already did all we can to find her but still, we didn't. We began to think she's probably dead already. One day, I told Kazune that I won't give up looking for her. That's why, I told him, that I'll be going to other places to look for Aya.

Kazune said that I should have a new name… just to be safe. So he called me Raven. He said when he thinks about me, the first thing that comes to his mind is my raven hair so he wanted my name to be Raven. I thought it was nick so I started using it. Then I said goodbye to him. For the past months, I have been a working student so I already had sufficient money for traveling to places and for food. During school days, Kazune and I were usually together and I really didn't get too close with people there. As for my hunger for blood, Kazune gave me a syringe. He told me I should inject myself if I feel hungry for blood. He gave me ten of them. One doesn't really going empty after one injection. Usually one syringe lasted longer than a week.

Anyway, I was travelling to places already, still looking for my sister. I wasn't really good with directions so I had to carry a map sometimes. It was like I was looking for a treasure which was kind of weird because Ayame wasn't much of a treasure. But she's my sister so I still cherish her.

I ended up in Isfahan City. I thought I was probably going too far already. I started to think that it's useless looking for sister already since she might be really dead already. Nevertheless, I tried to push the thought away and still tried to convince myself that we'll still meet. I stayed at Isfahan for a while.

A/N: Well that's what happened. Reminiscence Part II will be inserted between other chapters in the future. Raven was basically trying to think of the past after he met Kazune and fought with him as they went inside Noah lair's. So this was mostly Raven's thoughts. About Ren's part… she's resting somewhere in the lair so she started to think of her past after knowing that Raven and the others were inside already. This is like… an extra chapter but it's an important chapter since it explains how Raven and Ren became vampires and how Raven met Kazune. I say it's extra because if you have noticed, I used Point Of Views (POV) because this chapter is mostly about thoughts since they're trying to recollect the past. But anyway, I hope it wasn't that hard to understand. We'll go back to the present story in the next chap. ~


	30. Ren Hiro and Noah Wrath's Deal

**A/N: **I have decided to put Part II next to part I. By the way, sorry for the typos on the previous chapter. :o But if it was for school, I'd definitely double check it so there will be no errors. Haha. Anyway, I won't be using POV now.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater. ^^

**Chapter 30: Reminiscence Part II**

Ren panted, her eyes widening, her heart racing, her bangs covering one of her eyes. Rain started to fall down. She glanced at the dead bodies of some members of the Nakatsukasa clan on the ground. Trees surrounded them and it was late afternoon already. She slowly raised her shaking bloody hands in front of her and she glanced at them. Her pupils reduced and she flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and glared at the brown-skinned guy with a hat.

"Had enough?" asked the guy.

"Touch me again and I'll kill you," Ren asked coldly, preparing herself for any attacks.

The guy sat down on a huge rock and folded his hands in front of his chest and looked at Ren seriously. "It won't happen again."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Wrath but you can call me Noah. I was just curious about the mysterious deaths of the Nakatsukasa members."

"Well, now it isn't mysterious. What are you going to do now if I let you escape from here? Tell the cops?" She laughed. "They don't believe in vampires."

Wrath showed an eccentric smile. "What will I gain if I do that?"

The amused look on Ren's face faded.

"I have better things to do than go tattle tailing," Wrath continued.

"You're… you're not even bothered by these people I killed?"

Wrath glanced down at the bodies just a few feet away from him. "I don't care about those people so why should I be bothered?" He returned his gaze to Ren. "But I wonder… why did you kill them?"

"I…" Ren looked down at the bodies with a small percent of guilt squirming inside her. "I have to. It's my job." Her eyes narrowed. "And I need their blood."

"So you're a hungry little servant of a vampire with higher position? Pathetic."

Ren glared at him. "And what are you, a vagabond with no home and family?"

"That's right. I have no family but I do have a home. You can come with me to see for yourself."

She looked away. "No, thanks," she said sarcastically. "I already have a home."

"You're Ayame Hiro, right?"

"H-how did you know that?"

"I heard the news about the incident that took place in your house. People think you're dead already but your brother was actually found already. He's not searching for you anymore, Ayame. I heard he went abroad."

"Well, good for him," Ren said half-heartedly as she faced down. "I don't need him anymore."

Noah could tell that Ren was lying. He smirked. "Aren't you mad?"

"Even if I am, I can't really do anything about it already."

"So you just want to stay in this dreadful place and kill every day?"

"Most likely."

Noah glanced at the dead people again. "I saw that look you made after killing those people. You felt guilty, didn't you?"

"No, it's…" She glared at Noah. "It's none of your business! Look, if you have something to tell me, just say it already. You won't get to get out of this place alive anyway!"

Wrath looked at Ren. "I know you don't want killing your own relatives. You have to, right? Because you're now a vampire." He closed his eyes. "It's such a pity."

Ren grunted. She abruptly stood in front of Noah and held his collar. "You don't know me," she said through gritted teeth."

Wrath held Ren's hands and took them off from his collar. He looked up into her eyes, his face looking serious. Rain kept falling down on them. "I may not know everything about you but I can help you."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "Help me? How on earth can you help me?"

"I'd let you meet someone whose blood is special." He smirked.

Ren's anger slowly faded. "What about that person?"

"If you drink his blood, you can be back to normal already."

"You're kidding me, right? And let go of me!" She pushed herself away from Noah.

"I'm serious, Ayame. He's a shinigami."

Ren's eyes widened as she gasped a little. "Shi-shinigami? Death God…"

Noah nodded. "Exactly. I'll help you meet him. So what do you say?"

Ren stared at Noah for a long time. "You won't let that happen if there's no exchange, huh?"

"Why, of course." Noah closed his eyes and smirked. Ren sweatdropped.

"What is it then?"

"In exchange, you'll have to bring someone to me. She's a friend of the shinigami."

"I guess that won't be so hard."

Noah stood up. "So is it a deal?" He stretched out his arm, ready to shake Ren's hand. Ren looked at his hand for a few seconds. She was thinking if it was going to be the right decision. She finally held Noah's hand and shook it.

"Deal."

XXX

-Evening-

"I'm telling you, honey, Scarlet will be ecstatic to see us back home," Scarlet's father said in the car.

"She's still probably mad at me for not letting her go to her friend's party," his wife, who was sitting next to him, replied. "I told her to come with us but she said she wanted to keep her promise to her friend. I was just worried that something bad might happen to her in the party while we are far away."

The father smiled. "You worry too much. Our daughter needs to be free sometimes, you know."

"Don't be so careless, dear. You didn't give birth to her. You don't know how much sadness a mother feels when her child is in pain."

"Well, I guess you can say that but you have to trust Scarlet more. She's not that clumsy and stupid. You're going to say sorry to her when we come home, okay?"

She sighed. "Sure." Her eyes narrowed as she tried to see what that black thing was on the road in front of them. "Hey, dear, what's that?"

"Where?" He tried to see what his wife told him. It was a person after all. Scarlet's father rotated he stirring wheel with all his strength but they ended up moving away from the highway. The car eventually fell on the slanting land and it hit a large tree.

XXX

Raven haven fallen down on the road when the car almost hit him. He ran away from the town when he felt hungry for blood. He could have injected himself with one of the syringes Kazune gave him but it turns out they were all empty already. He held his chest and closed his eyes. "Not good," he whispered, his eyes squinting. He looked to the left and saw the crashed car. His glasses fell on the ground. His eyes glowed in red. He pushed himself up and ran towards the car. Inside the car, he saw a dead couple. The sight of blood tempted him. He no longer thought of taking pity on them. Madness overwhelmed in him. He then started sucking their blood but then he heard the sirens of the policemen cars, he immediately went out of the car and started running in the woods. What he didn't know was that Gopher was hiding up on a tree, watching him. He saw Raven fainted on the forest ground. He picked up his phone.

"Master," he said on the phone. "I found her brother already."

"Great," replied Noah. "Just leave him alone for now."

"Roger that."

XXX

"Kazune-kun!" said little Yuki as he came into Kazune's room and found Kazune sitting and working on some papers on his desk. The only turned on light in his room was his desk lamp.

"What is it, Yuki?" Kazune said without looking at Yuki. Yuki was his little friend from the next door. He was panting.

"I just saw in the news that a couple had a car accident!"

"Then…?"

"Then the police saw that there were bitemarks on their necks!" That got Kazune's attention. He turned to Yuki.

"What bitemarks?"

"They said it was of a vampire but since they don't believe in vampires, they dropped the idea!"

Kazune faced the ceiling. "Whew!" he sighed in relief.

"Why do you sound relieved? Shouldn't you be mad that they disregarded the fact?"

Kazune stood up and patted Yuki's head. "Just accept it, Yuki. There's no such thing as vampires. Now go home. Your mother's probably worried already."

Yuki pouted at Kazune. "Fine," he said then reluctantly walked out of the room.

The smile on Kazune's face faded as soon as Yuki was out of his sight already. He closed the door and sat on his chair again. "It must have been, Raven…" he thought. He dialed Raven's number on his phone. The phone just kept ringing until he got informed that Raven cannot be reached.

"Damn," he said as he tried to call Raven again. The same thing happened. Raven still couldn't be reached. Kazune flopped down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling fan above him. "Raven…" he though. "He probably ran out of the medicine I gave him already." He facepalmed himself.

XXX

-Morning-

The sky turned gray; dark clouds were gathering up above already. It was the morning of the burial day of Scarlet Vander's parents, 31st of March 2010. Scarlet was already thirteen years old when this very tragic thing occurred in her life. She was the only daughter of her parents and they were a rich family. One stormy night on the 12th of March 2010 her parents had a car accident when they were on their way home from work. Eventually, the two of them didn't make it to the hospital anymore. They were badly injured and at their last few minutes of their lives, they barely breathed. They were supposed to come home after attending a conference for their large business in Mavis City.

In the cemetery of Arren, friends, relatives, and neighbours of the Vander family were there around Scarlet and the coffins of her parents. Almost everybody wore black clothers, some wore white. Scarlet wore a black cock-tail dress with short sleeves; black boots, black hat and she brought a black umbrella with her. Her hair was as usual, medium long, straight, untied and naturally red-orange. She was standing next to her aunt Lyn and she just kept facing down, covering her mouth with a white handkerchief. Aunt Lyn gently hugged Scarlet; she knew she needed it even when it wasn't so obvious because Scarlet refuses to show any emotion.

Two men who Scarlet didn't know gave one last pat to the soil mounded up over her parents' grave. She started putting down the beautiful flowers that she have gathered in their large garden at the back of their mansion a while ago when it was still early morning. Then the others started to do the same thing. Only, their flowers were bought and were actually expensive, but not as much as expensive as what Scarlet had would cost. A priest prayed for Scarlet and her parents, everybody listened and nobody was talking anymore until the priest was finished. When it was all done, everyone, including Lyn, started to leave except Scarlet who knelt in front of her parents' grave. Her aunt Lyn asked if she will come with her to their house. "Yes, auntie. Later," said Scarlet with a low, soft voice and without facing her aunt. Lyn slowly nodded then turned around and continued walking towards the exit of the cemetery with the others. The people who visited , said their farewells to her and gave Sacarlet comforting, short messages. Still, they weren't all comforting enough to lighten up her burden inside. But she did appreciate their attendance and thanked them all with a sad smile.

Raven hid himself behind a wall. He was wearing a black hoodie. He watched the attendees leave but he was surprised that the daughter of the deceased parents stayed, knelt down on her parents' grave. He saw her saying something since her mouth kept moving but he couldn't hear her. Later, he heard someone shouted from behind Scarlet. It was her aunt after all.

"Come on, Scarlet! You can come back here later," her aunt Lyn said with a loud yet gentle voice.

"Uh," uttered Scarlet. She stood up and unconsciously let go the hand of her favorite teddy bear's hand. She started to run after her aunt. Raven slowly went to graves when he was completely alone at the place already. He knelt down and said sorry to the both of them. He meant it.

"If there's any way I can repay what I have done, I'll do it," Raven said. He opened his eyes and saw a teddy bear next to him. He looked at it for a while then picked it up. "It must belong to the girl," he thought then stood up. He glanced at the cemetery gates then a strong wind passed him. "I guess I'll keep you for now," he whispered to the bear then placed it inside his bag. He continued on his way. As he was walking on the subway, he kept replaying the image of the red-haired girl in his mind. She actually looked at him when they were still in the cemetery. It made him nervous but the girl (Scarlet) later glanced away, much to his relief. They both exchanged serious stares though. Raven wondered if she'll remember him if every they meet again. Anyway, he tried to push away the thought and focus on looking for his sister again.

XXX

-Evening-

Marie glanced at the wall clock. It was almost 11 p.m. already. She worried for Stein since he hasn't come back yet. It was raining hard. There was a storm outside. Suddenly she heard thunder then someone was banging on the front door. She hurriedly ran towards the door and opened it. "Oh my goodness!" she shouted when she saw Stein carrying a black-haired teenager full of blood. They were both soaked in water.

"Out of the way, Marie," Stein said. Marie stepped away and Stein came inside. She was too shocked to speak. Stein put down the boy on the sofa. "I hope you don't mind that our sofa will get stained."

Marie glared at Stein. "It's okay. You're the one who's gonna wash it anyway, right?"

Stein stood up. (He knelt down when he placed the boy on the sofa.) He chuckled. "This is not the right time for jokes, Marie. Get a towel and a cup of milk."

"Oh, okay," Marie said. She looked away from the injured child and went to kitchen.

Stein got his medicines from his lab and started treating the boy's wounds. A few minutes later, Marie knelt beside him on the floor and placed the cup of milk on the center table. Then she started wiping the kid's blood. "Poor little boy," she said weakly. "What happened to him, Stein?"

"I'm not sure. I just found him at the gates of Death City looking like this already."

"Some people must have tried to kill him."

"No… it's more like the other way around."

"You mean?..." Marie gave him a quizzical look.

"I saw two dead men outside Death City. He might be a killer."

"What are you saying?" she shouted. "That this innocent child killed them?"

Stein nodded.

"Stein, I know you can be crazy sometimes but don't be so crazy like this. How could he kill them? He's just a child." She played with Raven's bangs.

Stein held Raven's chin.

"Hey, if you're going to hold him, do it gently! He might wake up and get scared."

Stein ignored Marie. He slightly opened Raven's mouth and he showed Marie his fangs. Marie gasped. She let go of Raven.

"Stein, don't tell me he's a…"

"Fine. I won't tell you." He turned around to get a medicine from the center table behind them.

Raven's face twitched and made little moans. Stein and Marie quickly faced them. Raven slowly woke up. His hands were on his abdomen. When he woke up, he saw a fluorescent light above him and two heads. "Where am I?" he said weakly.

Stein stood up. "I leave him to you now, Marie. Give him a bath." Marie and Raven watched him quietly walk away. Marie smiled at Raven. "Hey there, you're in Patchwork Lab in Death City."

"Death… City?" Raven held his forehead. "Oh, right. I forgot."

"He looks normal to me," Marie thought. "But how exactly do vampires look anyway? I haven't seen one before." She stood up. "I hope you don't mind that my husband saved you. He told me to give you a bath. Do you want that?"

Raven's eyes narrowed. "I'll be troublesome to you."

"No, it's okay! Come on… What's your name again?"

Raven blinked a couple of times, surprised at Marie's friendliness. "Dai… I mean, Raven." He just remembered what Kazune said to not give out his real name.

"Raven, eh? Nice name. Is it alright with you if I can you Stein Jr.?"

"I… guess."

"Great! Here, let me help you." She held Raven's cold hands, helped him sit up.

XXX

At the comfort room, Raven was shirtless already. Marie was scrubbing his arms and she noticed Raven looking gloomy. He had these wounds all over his pale body, still reddening and swelling a bit. Raven just kept looking at the ground.

"These wounds… how did you get them?"

"It's best if you don't know, Miss Marie," Raven said softly. "What happened was too terrible to tell you."

Marie bit her lip as she looked at Raven. She wasn't sure if she was to be sad for him or if she should be mad at him for killing two men. "You know," she started as she focused on cleaning Raven's body already, "you can call me mom."

Raven quickly faced her. "Are you… serious?"

Marie smiled. "Of course I am." She giggled. "After all, you said it's okay if I call you Stein Jr."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Professor Stein, my husband and the one who saved you, created a child for us back then but sadly he died because of suicide. He always wanted his father's attention since he is his creator but months later, Stein began to neglect him. We all know Stein doesn't really show affection so Junior should have accepted that he'll never get the love he needed from Stein. I, on the other hand, always tried to love him but he just kept pushing me away, telling me I'm not his mom and that he only has a father. Well, that was true but still… since I'm Stein's wife I'm automatically, his mother. Is that right, Raven?"

Raven looked up at Marie and saw her eyes starting to water. But when she was speaking she sounded normal. She tried to hold back the tears when she spoke about Stein Jr. but still she couln't help it. Raven glanced at the floor again with half-lidded eyes.

"I see," he said quietly. "Professor Franken Stein… he was also created… but his own creator feared him. So he made a child… and made him feel the same thing he felt."

Marie suddenly stopped crying and wiped her tears. "That's… that might be true."

"How was professor when he found out Stein Jr. died?"

Marie thought for a few seconds. "He didn't show sadness or happiness. He just stayed quiet. He didn't cry at all. I thought he was just hiding his pain but now that you mentioned that, Raven, you make me thing that he was hiding his happiness instead."

"Are you going to be mad at professor now after what I told you?"

Marie paused. "I… I don't really know. Even though Stein Jr. wasn't such a good child, he was still our child. He was still kind to me on some days so I was really depressed when I found out he committed suicide."

Raven dipped his head more. His face couldn't be seen anymore because of his bangs that were still wet from the rain. He held Marie's wrist. "Please don't be mad at professor even though he did something bad… he probably saved me so he can repay for what he did… to give you another child…"

"So… does that mean…" Marie said, tears still filling in her eyes, "does that mean you accept to take the name of Junior and be our child?"

Raven slowly nodded. Marie fell on her knees and she wrapped her arms around Raven who gasped a bit in shock.

"Thank you…" Marie said as she dug her head on Raven's skin, "Raven."

Raven sighed. He then caressed his new mom's hair, as to comfort her more.

XXX

Outside the comfort room, Stein had been listening, standing against the wall. He fixed his glasses on his nose and started walking in the hallway back to his room.

A/N: Do you really think Stein wanted someone else to suffer what he suffered that's why he created Junior? I, myself, am not sure but it's possible. Professor can be so secretive so he'll probably never tell the truth. Anyway, in this chapter, I tried to show the scenes from the past. I wasn't supposed to write about them cuz I thought I'm just supposed to give hints of what happened in the past but since this is an extra chapter anyway, I decided to include the full story. How did Raven end up in Death City? Well, he's a vagabond. ~ By the way! Two paragraphs in this chapter were taken from the 2nd chapter of my 1st story. (Since they're kinda related but it's still a different story.)


	31. The Captivation of Spartoi

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 31: Captication**

Kazune slammed the door open. Ren raised her head. She was sitting on her bed and brushing her long black silky hair. She saw the exaggeration written all over Kazune's face.

"Kazune-kun, how many times do I have to tell you to knock first before you enter?" Ren said calmly.

"Is that even important, right now?" Kazune shouted as he glared at Ren. "Death the Kid and the others have already entered the lair!"

"I did tell you that we'll be having visitors, didn't I?" She stood up and placed her brush on her mirror's desk.

"Yeah but those visitors of ours aren't here to have tea with us, you know?"

Ren chuckled then she faced Kazune. "Calm down. Crona's already in the Book of Eibon while Gopher and other soldiers are guarding Soul and Maka. I just need to talk things out with Shinigami-kun. But perhaps Noah-sama will have to deal with him first." She looked away.

Kazune finally calmed down a bit. "How about the others?" he said. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I'll take care of them." She looked at Kazune without moving her head. Her hands folded in front of her chest. "Meanwhile, prepare the glass cages and the silver gun for me."

"Alright." He turned around but paused. At the corner of his eyes, he could see Ren, still standing behind him. "By the way, I tried to kill your brother but I thought you would hate me if he died."

Ren smiled. "Good. I'll be the one who'll the honor."

Kazune narrowed his eyes. "You really hate him already?"

"Let's just say he's nothing to me now. I don't hate nor love him. I don't need something that's nothing to me already. So I would eliminate that entity if he gets in the way."

Kazune closed his eyes. "I see." He quietly walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He stood behind the door for a while and looked up at the ceiling. He could hear the noises that the Spartoi were making downstairs. He then started walking in the dark hallway.

XXX

Death the Kid landed on the floor of the room where Crona got sucked into the Book of Eibon. It was dark inside and the only light emitted to the room was from the moon outside. Kid could see his own shadow when he came inside. He saw the broken pieces of the window on the floor. His eyes turned half-lidded. He gripped his guns harder and gazed around the room. He didn't see anyone and when he activated his soul perception, he sensed no one.

"Be careful, Kid," Liz reminded, still in her weapon form, "the one who was here might be using soul protect."

"As if it was a witch or a wizard," Kid whispered harshly.

Liz glared. "Then what do you suppose it is?"

"How could I know?"

"A warlock," said someone behind them. Kid quickly turned around and saw Noah in a dark corner, smirking. Kid shot him but he missed when Noah moved a little to the right.

"I thought I already killed you," Kid said.

Noah laughed. "Don't be stupid," he said. "It was my brother who you killed."

"Index must be crazy for creating another Noah."

"Don't blame him. He's just doing his job. Another Noah is needed for the manifestation of our Master Eibon's work, the Book of Eibon."

"How great is that book if it creates someone like you who creates evil?"

"You mean someone like me who would turn the daughter of witch Medusa into a kishin?" he showed a small evil grin.

"Where is she?" Kid shouted. "What have you done to her?"

"Oh? I thought you already forgot about her." He smiled.

"Answer my question or I'll shoot you again," Kid said through gritted teeth.

The smile on Noah's face faded. He rested his back on the corner and closed his eyes. "Your deal little Crona is in a happy place right now, the same place where you have been. The insanity inside her shall increase, the insanity that got lost from her when you and your silly friends took her in Shibusen. She's going to need more than enough insanity to make her a kishin… to make her my wife." An evil smile formed on his face again.

Kid was quiet for a while. Then he started snickering. "You? Her husband? Why would Crona want someone like you?"

"She'd rather prefer me than you, reaper boy. She believes that you like someone else already. She will come to realize that she doesn't need you anymore. Don't you feel any shame? You were enemies. You used to kill her and now you love her? Hmph. Ridiculous."

Kid faced down. His bangs covered his eyes. His hands were shaking in anger. "Shut up!" he shouted harshly. He raised his head and scowled at Noah. "You don't know anything!" He started shooting at Noah but it seemed like he doesn't get hit.

"What the-? An illusion?" Kid said in his mind. The Noah he was talking to started laugh and became look blurry. He disappeared. He was just a hologram after all.

Kid felt something pierced his neck. He twitched then his eyes slowly closed and he fainted on the ground. Liz and Patty transformed back into their human forms.

"Kid!" they shouted as they held Kid. When they looked up, someone covered their mouths with a handkerchief with a substance that can make someone fall asleep. Liz and Patty eventually lost conscious and fell down next to Kid.

"Well, that was easy," Gopher said. He smiled devilishly down at the trio. "That's for killing my first master… Death the Kid." He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back.

"Good job, Gopher," Noah said.

"Thanks," said Gopher as he smiled. He looked down at the things in his hands. These stuffs Kazune gave me are actually useful."

Noah glared. "Why would he give you something that isn't useful?"

"Well, I used to not trust him."

"You two should get along since you both hate this kid." Noah looked down at Kid.

"Please don't forget that his memories might return to him. He might remember Raven."

Noah gave Gopher a solemn look. "Even if he does remember, he loves Ren, so he can't really betray us."

Some soldiers (other than the ones guarding Soul and Maka) came inside the room.

"Ah, you're finally here," Noah said to them. "You can take these three in the dungeons already, the ones far away from Soul and Maka. And make sure Kid is in a different room from Liz and Patty. These girls wouldn't want to witness their master suffer."

"Yes, sir," said the soldiers. They picked up the trio and walked out of the room.

"So are we really going to torture him?"

"Would you want that?" They both started to follow the soldiers.

Gopher smirked. "I'm still not quite satisfied with the last time I tortured him in the dungeon. It would be nice to continue what I started."

XXX

"Can we walk faster? It's really scary here," Licorice said, hugging herself behind Scarlet and Raven.

Raven had an annoyed look on his face. "Remind me to not bring her along next time," he said to Scarlet.

Scarlet only sweatdropped.

"Hey, Raven! You brought me because I have the ability to see the future, didn't you? Now you're regretting that you brought me? You're so mean!"

Raven flinched. He quickly turned around and covered Licorice' mouth. He shushed her. "You're being too loud," he scolded her in a whisper. "Why do you think we're moving discretely?"

Licorice took away Raven's hands from his mouth. "It's no use! When I broke that vase back there, they probably know we're already here! Not to mention when we entered the liar. That was noisy as well."

"But atleast we have to be quieter now!"

Licorice' eyes suddenly widened. She became speechless.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Raven, someone's coming!" Licorice finally said, still looking surprised. Since she could see the future a bit, she knew for sure that someone was coming.

Everyone quickly prepared themselves. Suddenly a smoke bomb soared into the air above them, fell on the floor and exploded. After a few seconds, smoke covered the place and everyone was closing their eyes, coughing.

"What is this?" Raven said in his mind as he slowly felt dizzy, holding his forehead. Everyone else behind him have fallen to the ground already, some were still coughing from the toxic smoke encompassing them. "How could we let out guard down?" He, himself, started to fall to the ground. When he was on the ground already, he turned to the side and saw a silhouette of a person, though it was blurry because of the smoke. The person walked towards him. He looked up at him and saw that it was Kazune with a black cloth covered on his mouth.


	32. Kazune Ryou's Dreadful Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 32: Kazune**

Black Star tried to break the thick glass with his Soul Menace. But it was useless. The glass didn't even have a scratch after all the power Black Star released on it. Tsubaki watched him from behind with her closed hands on her chest, looking concerned for her partner. They were inside a thick glass that almost looked light blue. A white light was above them from an unknown source. They were lucky to have oxygen inside. Inside was clean and empty except the fact that the two of them were in it. It was dark outside the glass but both of them could hear the others trying to break the glass cage that they were in too across and next to theirs. For the past thirty minutes, nobody succeeded. Liz was in another cage with Kilik, Raven was with Scarlet, Kim was with Ox, Jacqueline was with Harvart, Ragnarok was with Patty, and lastly, Licorice was with Pot of Thunder and Fire,

Black Star turned around, looking frustrated. He was running out of patience. He didn't like to just sit around in that cage glass and do nothing. The same goes with the other members of Spartoi. But the others finally decided to stop and try later. Silence filled the large dark room.

Tsubaki flinched when Black Star turned around to face her.

"Tsubaki, change into Shadow Star: Zeroth Form… Masamune," Black Star said calmly. But there was a bit of harshness in his voice.

"But Black Star, we don't know what will happen to us if we break that glass," Tsubaki protested with hesitance. "It's obviously not a normal glass."

"We'll get to escape if we break that glass, of course! It's better to try than sit around here and wait til we find out that our friends are dead already!" He smirked. "Just trust me."

Tsubaki sighed. "Yes, sir," she said weakly, almost reluctantly. She slowly transformed into Masamune. Black Star held the handler of the sword tightly then faced the glass with solemnity. He positioned himself to hit the glass already, holding the sword (Tsubaki) with his right hand and the other hand open in front of his chest. He stood side view and glared at the glass. A voice broke the silence. A light from outside the cage glass began to lighten the room a bit. It came from the hallway outside the room. Black Star's eyes widened. He saw the other glass cages across theirs and he saw a shadow on the floor. Still, he held Tsubaki firmly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Kazune as he came inside the room, holding a gun. Some silvers chains were dangling on one side of his pants. They could barely saw his face but he sounded serious. Spartoi and Licorice scowled at him as he entered the room. His hand was spinning the gun with his index finger. He faced Black Star. "You should listen to your partner sometimes. Before I made these glass cages, I researched all your abilities or powers. I made sure those abilities and powers of yours will be no match to the capacity of the glass."

"What a genius," said Ox as he stared at Kazune in awe. Kim glared at him and punched his shoulder which made him lose his balance but he didn't fall to the ground.

Kazune turned around and smiled at Ox. "Praising me won't get you out of there, nerd," he said.

Ox returned his balance and stood firm. He glared at Kazune. "Say what you want to say now, once we get our hands on you we're gonna—"

"You're gonna what? Kill me?" He chuckled. "As if you're gonna come out of there. You're all gonna die before you can come out." He showed an evil grin. He closed his eyes, folded his hands in front of his chest and smiled. "By the way, you look different from what I expected. On the picture I saw, you had no hair other than those two pillars. You should have kept it that way."

"See, Kim, I told you I looked better before," Ox said as he faced Kim.

Kim gave him a lazy look. "Trust me," she said nonchalantly. "You look better now."

"R-really?" Ox said and grinned brightly.

"Oh, brother," both Kazune and Kim said say as they turned away from Ox.

"Kazune, snap out of it already!" Raven suddenly shouted from behind Kazune. Kazune turned around and started walking towards him, looking emotionless. "Don't you realize it? You're under some kind of spell!"

"You're the one who needs to snap out of it," Kazune said. "You should have followed your sister's decision. But instead you chose to stay on Shibusen's side. You could have been back to normal already."

"Back to normal?" Liz and the others wondered.

"How can you prove that I'm under some kind of spell, huh?" Kazune continued. "Give me a believable proof."

"Well, for one thing, you weren't this evil before! Don't you remember? Ren caught you when you were spying on her for me! You almost got killed because of her!"

"Enough!" Kazune shouted as he closed his eyes and closed his hands on his sides. "That's a lie! She didn't try to kill me! She only tried to satisfy her hunger! After that she left me. But I was still alive. And the one day she saved me. She found me almost dead on a street in my city after I got bullied!"

Raven's eyes widened. "You… you got bullied?"

Kazune covered one his eyes. His other eye scowled at Raven. "You really don't know anything, do you, Raven?"

"You remember my name?"

"I remember your _full_ name."

"Wh… what happened to you?"

"It doesn't matter if I tell you, does it? What will you do with such information?"

"I just want to know what happened to my bestfriend, dammit!" Raven shouted which caused a shock to Kazune. He flinched when he heard the word bestfriend. He stared at Raven blankly and speechlessly for a while then he gradually started to chuckle.

"Bestfriend?" He chuckled more. "Pathetic, Raven. Simply pathetic. You actually think I'm your bestfriend? I'm your enemy from the start. I never really liked you. Didn't I tell you that I don't take pity on people who ask help from me like those beggars we sometimes see? I may have said you were an exception but I never said I pity you. I was only curious why you were so injured! I wanted to know the cause! I wanted to investigate! 'Cause that's what I am! A researcher, got that?"

Kazune was shouting a lot, everyone in the room heard every word he said. After all the shouting, he faced down, started to catch his breath, panted, his eyes still widening. Everyone became speechless especially Raven, who almost couldn't believe what he just heard. Kazune finally calmed down and placed the gun in its holder placed on his belt.

"You know what happened to me?" he said. "I stood up for you. People kept asking me at school where you've been after you left. Those who envied you for being so mysterious and always indifferent or cool, kept asking me where you went. They were guys who lost their girlfriend's because of you. You did know that a lot of girls were crushing on you, didn't you? They left those guys because of you. But you didn't even give them any form of attention or appreciation! They were too scared to go back to their boyfriends! While those guys who beat me up or those boyfriends of those girls didn't want to ask those girls to come back to them anymore! You know why? Because they thought those girls deserved someone better! Someone like you, they thought! Even though they were being humble, they still hatred on them. They had hatred on you! They just wanted to beat the crap out of you! But where were you? You were nowhere to be found already! So they took up their anger on me! I actually stood up for you, Raven! But I ended up hurting myself! I felt so stupid for even trying. I should have told them the truth that I also hated you! I hated you!" He fell onto his knees and covered his face with a hand. Raven saw tears streaming down his face. "I hated you…" he repeated, but this time, he sounded melancholic. His other hand was on the floor.

Raven's eyes turned half-lidded and a bit gloomy at the sight of his friend. He held the glass in front of him, almost trying to clutch it. He closed his eyes. "Why would I have interest in those girls? Why would I appreciate them for leaving their boyfriends because of me? What would you do if you were me, Kazune? Would you selfishly accept those unfaithful girls? I was already a sinner and I didn't want to have more sin if I accepted those girls. Is that how low you think of me? You actually thought I'll be the kind of guy who would do such a thing? They have rather returned to those guys who loved them truthfully, so truthful as far as to became angry because they were left behind because of me. Those guys… they were stupid for being jealous… they were stupid for being angry… they're better guys than me… it wasn't their fault that their girlfriend's left them… and I tell you… it's not my fault, as well. Blame it on the girls for being unfaithful. Won't you be disgusted if someone tries to be your girlfriend after dumping her ex? I call that someone a whore, a whore who's not satisfied with only one guy. You wanted me to accept that kind of girl?" He shouted but still his eyes were closed. "Now who's being pathetic? But I can't blame you. You were hurt because of me when you weren't supposed to be." His composure came back to him. "I thank you. I thank you for standing up for me… even though it wasn't authentic. Even though you didn't really mean what you said to them. You still stood up for me. But I guess… you really aren't my bestfriend. I admit that I was a fool to believe. I'm still grateful to you for helping me. And I don't care if it was real compassion or not." He smiled.

Kazune still had his hand on his face. He covered one of his eyes that were still watery with tears then he glanced at Raven with his other half-lidded eye as he stood up. He wiped his eye with his hand. "If that's the case, then you're welcome. But that's the last time I helped you. Never will I do such a despicable thing again. For a brat like you, I wonder how you became related to Ren. After those guys beat me up, they left me on the street with the pouring rain. I believed that I was dying. But when I woke up, I saw Ren again. But this time, she wasn't there to take advantage of me. She was there to be a benefit to me. She was there to heal me," He smiled, "which gave me more reason to hate you, you who betrayed her, you who was the cause of my pain."

"Look, Kazune, Ren might have found a way to return us back to normal but she entered a deal that sacrifices many people like us, especially two people who are in love –Kid and Crona. Don't be like those guys who beat you. Don't be like them and become jealous of Death the Kid when he's not even interested in Ren. Kid-senpai has no fault. While Ren… Ren was just like those whores I told you about. She's trying to break Kid and Crona's relationship so she can have Kid and his blood! Do you see why I didn't want her decision? Do you see why I betray her?"

"Stop acting so clean! Stop acting like you didn't do something so unforgivable, so unforgivable than what Ren is doing! At least if you went with her decision, you can go back normal already and stop going after what you crave for already! Even if it would break that couple's relationship, I won't allow that stupid shinigami to take Ren away from me anyway! And don't call her a whore!" He took the gun and pointed it at Raven. "She's your sister!"

Raven was shocked for a while especially when Kazune pointed the gun at him. Then he slowly smiled. Kazune was actually being considerate. "So you really do care for both of us," he said gently. "But have you forgotten about Crona-senpai? She'll end up becoming a kishin because of Ren's decision."

Tucking his gun into the waist of his denims, Kazune said harshly, "I don't fucking care about that." He turned around. "This conversation is over. If you get in the away ever again, I'll definitely shoot you with this gun already." He started to walk away the room. He closed the door behind him. "Guard this place," he said to the soldiers. They nodded in response.

XXX

Raven sighed, turned around, and slid his back down on the glass until he was sitting on the ground already. He bent his legs, folded his arms in front of him and on his knees. He rested his head on his arms and closed his eyes. Scarlet slowly sat down next to him.

"You should be a lawyer someday, Raven," Scarlet said gently. Raven slowly looked to the side but he still kept his head on his arms. He saw her smile. Her hands rested on her knees. Her legs were spread out on the floor. Raven managed to smile back at Scarlet.

"It's risky to be a lawyer," said Raven. His eyes slowly closed then he faced down again. Scarlet looked at him with worry. Even though she made him smile, she was still sad for him. She slowly placed her head on his shoulder. Raven raised his head a bit. At the corner of his eyes, he saw Scarlet on his shoulder, asleep already. She looked so innocent, so fragile. Raven slowly raised his hand and attempted to hold her face. When he was close to touching her cheek already, he hesitated for a few seconds then finally touched it. It was so soft. His eyes widened when Scarlet suddenly placed her hand over his hand.

"Raven…" she said, still half sleep, sounding like a child.

"Yeah?" Raven said softly.

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

Raven smiled. "Give up with what?"

"On us two."

The smile on Raven's face faded. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to be my partner forever, right?"

Raven was quiet for a while. He looked away.

After a minute, Scarlet slowly dropped her hand on the floor.

"I guess we can't always agree," she said.

Raven returned his arm on his knees. He sighed a bit then placed his head on Scarlet's head. "Yeah, I'm yours as long as I'm alive," he said gently. With that, Scarlet smiled and tears of joy started to run down her face. Both of them said nothing more as they fell asleep. Across their glass cage, Licorice watched them with a smile on her face.

XXX

Kid slowly woke up. He found himself tied to a metal chair with chains all over his body.

"Princess Beauty is finally awake," Noah said. The vagueness of Kid's vision was finally gone. When he raised his head he saw Noah sitting on a red sofa. When he saw the person next to her, his eyes widened and he regained his consciousness.

"Crona!" he shouted. Crona was sitting beside Noah, looking like a doll, looking blank and emotionless. She didn't even look at Kid when he called her.

"There's no point calling her, boy," Noah said and smiled. "She doesn't recognize you anymore. You see, the insanity in her made her forgotten about you. I just took her out of the book to see if she still remembers you." He held Crona's chin and made her face him. "Do you remember him, Crona, dear?"

"I… don't…" Crona said in such a small voice but loud enough for Kid to hear. She just stared at Noah with those blank light blue eyes.

Noah let go of Crona and said, "good girl." He faced Kid who was glaring at him already. "She's still going back to the book so don't get your hopes too high. Rather, don't have hope anymore. She won't come back to you anymore."

Someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get it," Crona said then she stood up quietly.

"No, let Gopher do it, dear," Noah said as he held Crona and pulled her down. He made her sat down on his lap.

"Don't touch her!" Kid shouted.

"Why not?" Noah said. "She's already mine after all." He wrapped his arms around Crona's waist and looked at Kid with a smile on his face.

"I don't see your name on her."

Noah chuckled. "Neither yours."

"Can you guys stop your childish argument?" Kazune said as he entered the room. Gopher was the one who opened the door. "Noah-sama, just give Crona a leash and put your name on it so jealous boy will stop yapping."

"That's a good idea, Kazune." He put down Crona down, held her hand and stood up. "Come on, Crona. Let's get you a leash with my name on it. Then you can go back to the book already." They started to walk towards the door.

"B-but Noah-sama, I-I don't want to go back in there," Crona said as she let herself get dragged by Noah with her other hand placed on her other arm near her elbow.

Kid faced down, closed his eyes and sweatdropped. "She still stammers even though she forgot her memories of her past already," he thought. "Wait a second! That must mean that a little part of her old self is in her!" He looked to the left. "Don't worry, Crona!" He shouted to Crona. "If ever you're taken back to that book, I'll get you out of there!"

Crona stopped walking. She and Noah looked back. She stared at Kid for a while.

"I'll save you Crona! Just you wait!"

Noah glared at Kid then looked away. "Let's go," he said to Crona. They continued to walk but Crona still kept looking at Kid until she was out of the room already. Kazune closed the door.

Kid faced down. "I love you…" he said quietly. He said the words he badly wanted to shout to her. But he held back the words when he thought that maybe it were useless. He thought Crona wouldn't understand.

"You really love her, don't you?" Kazune said as he walked towards Kid.

"What do you care?" Kid said as his eyes looked away. He was still facing down.

"So what Raven said was true after all. That you and that girl were in love." He laughed. "It's such a pity now that she doesn't remember you, isn't it? You know what? You deserve it. That's for having an interest on Ren."

Kid smirked. "Why would I have an interest in that girl who could have just asked me for blood? She didn't have to go all the trouble following Noah's plans. I actually admired her for her intelligence but when it comes to something easy, she can be so idiotic."

Kazune slapped Kid's face. "You like her but you talk bad about her? You're just as despicable as her little brother."

Kid was still facing to the side and looking at the ground with his bangs covering his face. His cheek was still reddening from Kazune's slap. A few moments of silence filled the room then he finally smiled which surprised Kazune.

"You could have done better than that," Kid said. "There are things I like about Ren and some things that I hate. It's the same with other people. It's just to be fair."

"I see. You're the god of order, right? … One who has an obsession for symmetry and perfection? I can't believe someone would leave his partners in a mission just to go back and check if his painting was really crooked. You are even more pathetic than Raven after all." He laughed.

"Do you really think I went back home just for that?" Kid faced him finally and smirked. "I wanted to test Liz and Patty's ability. I wanted to see if they can survive without me. I wouldn't leave if I had only Patty or Liz as my partner. Since they're two, they can help each other. I was glad to see them alive when I came back. That means they can protect themselves even without me. Sure, they've been doing it before we became partners but I wanted to see for myself if they can handle a situation that's tougher than fighting with normal humans."

Kazune glared at Kid. "Whatever. Just remember this. After Ren gets what she need from you, don't even try making her yours. She might like you but you can't have her. Got that?"

"Yeah, sure," Kid said as he looked away. "It's not like I have any intentions other than being friends with her."

Kazune started to leave the room. "Gopher, you can do anything you want to him already."

Gopher stopped resting his back on the wall and stood properly. "So you finally remembered?"

"Remembered what?"

"About Raven."

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

"Nothing. I just thought you'd betray us after remembering."

Kazune chuckled. "It just gave me more reason to hate Raven." He went out the door and closed it.

Gopher walked towards Kid. "Ready?" he said to him and smiled.

Kid glared at Gopher."For what?"

Gopher punched Kid's face. "For that."

Kid smirked. "So you're not satisfied from before."

"Of course. That's why I'm doing this." He punched him again but on his other check this time.

"It's just so unfair that I'm tied here. I could have crushed your head to pieces already."

"You're nothing without your weapons." He punched him again. Blood started to leak out of Kid's mouth but he just kept looking down.

"He has madness release," said a voice behind them. Gopher glanced at Ren. Kid thought the voice was familiar. "That's enough, Gopher."

Gopher glanced down at Kid. "We'll continue this. He took out a blank blanket out of his pocket then covered it on Kid's eyes. He tied the ends at the back of Kid's head. He gradually disappeared from the room. Kid could see nothing but darkness. His blood kept dripping to the floor. Silence filled the room. Then he heard the tapping of shoes. Suddenly he felt cold arms wrap around his neck from behind.

"I'm sorry for all this," Ren whispered in Kid's ear as he wiped his mouth with a tissue.

"I can only forgive you if you end this trouble already," Kid managed to speak.

Ren's eyes widened. She unwrapped her arms from Kid's neck. She stood properly and bent down in front of him. She placed her hands on his lap.

"I can't. A promise is a promise."

"But is it a good promise?" Kid asked then fixed the position of his head.

"Why can't you just be mine already so you don't have to suffer anymore?" Ren cried as she clutched Kid's pants with both of her hands and stared at his covered eyes with her teary eyes.

"I can't… love you, Ren. Just like what you said. A promise is a promise. I made a promise to Crona that I'll love her forever. I can't possibly love the both of you."

"That's why you need to forget her." She stood up. "That's why you need to realize that it's not a good promise. You and Crona are supposed to be enemies."

"We already talked about that. Just because we came from a group of people that hates each other doesn't mean we have to hate each other too. We have decided to bring peace between shibusen and the witches by getting a long."

"Even if it's that good, there are other ways to bring peace between shibusen and the witches. You don't have to love Crona!" She kept her fists in front her as she glanced down at Kid.

"But we thought it's the best way."

"There's no use to that. You can't change it. Ever since then, the witches hate shibusen. How can they like shibusen just because of you two? I thought you were smart Kid! Are you two trying to be like Romeo and Juliet!"

Kid showed a sad smile. "That's what we want."

"But Romeo and Juliet ended up dying before there was peace between the two families! Are you two willing to die?"

"If that's how, then it shall be."

"Crona can die but you…" She pulled Kid's collar with both of her hands, "I don't want you to die... I love you." She gently kissed his bloody mouth and drank Kid's blood at the process.


	33. Black Roses and Insanity

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 33: Black Rose**

Clang of steel echoed as Maka gritted her teeth tried to break off the handcuffs on her wrists from the wall behind her. Soul frowned at her woeful state.

"Maka."

"Shut up, Soul! We should at least do something to break out of here!"

He glared. "I didn't even say anything yet."

"I know what you were going to say anyway." She continued to waste her efforts.

He sighed. "Don't be such a git, Maka," he said calmly. "We cannot break these chains. You're just wasting your energy."

Maka paused and stared at the ground with half-lidded eyes. "What do you suppose we should do? Just wait here until we witness Crona as the new kishin?"

Soul showed a lopsided grin. "That is, if we'll still be alive to be able to witness that."

Maka inhaled and quickly glanced at Soul with wide eyes. "Don't say things like that!"

Soul closed his eyes. "Sheesh. I was only kidding." Only silence responded to him. Soft intermittent sound started to fill the room. At the corner of his eyes, Maka was facing down already, quietly sobbing. Small puddles of tears were on the floor.

"Hey."

Maka slightly raised her head and looked to the left. Soul was giving her a solemn stare.

"We'll get out of here so stop crying."

"H-how do you know that?"

"Men's intuition."

A smile tugged on Maka's lips.

XXX

Kid diverted his head from Ren, preventing her from continuing to kiss him. Ren could sense that Kid was feeling weak already, from all the physical pain he received, from the lost of blood and from the feeling of guilt –guilt for being kissed by a girl other than his Crona. Ren stopped holding Kid's lap and stood properly.

"You still prefer, Crona, don't you?" Ren said calmly as she looked away. There was a few seconds of silence. She received no response. She took out a handkerchief and wiped Kid's mouth. "You'll eventually forget her." She started to walk away.

"Ren."

Ren turned around in shock when she heard Kid's voice. She stood there for a while and looked at the back of Kid's head.

"Kazune told me… that I can't have you."

Ren smiled. "You shouldn't let his words affect you. What can he do if I love someone else?"

"I can ask you almost the same question. What can you do if I love someone else?"

"I'll make you two forget about each other of course."

"How about Kazune… what do you think he would do?"

Ren became quiet for a while. "He's just my servant. My servants should respect my decision. If he doesn't… well, then, that ends him." She turned around and continued to walk away.

When Kid heard the door closed. Total silence filled the room. "Finally… alone," he thought. He raised his head and moved his body a little. The chains that wrapped him made small noises. He glanced around the room. He can't really say that it was a dungeon since it was clean, there was a sofa, the floor was tiled, the walls were maroon and there was actually a nice fragrance floating around him. He tried to find the CCTVs in the room. He only spotted one which was on the wall in front of him.

"Now if I can only find the locks." He tried to search for the locks of the chains with his hands at the back of the chair. Fortunately, he found them. He just kept his head low though so his face won't be shown on the CCTV. The spikes on his rings elongated. He used the longest spikes on each ring to open the locks. It wasn't easy at all. Sweat was already running down Kid's face. Finally, he unlocked the chains but he still held on to the locks so the chains on him won't fall of. He waited until someone came in.

Surprisingly, Noah came in with Crona and the Book of Eibon. Kid saw that Crona had a leash on her neck and Noah held the handler but she wasn't actually pulling Crona to where they'd go.

"You must be really hungry already, huh?" Noah said. Kid glared at him. He and Crona sat down on the sofa. "I just came here to show you that Crona has a leash already. Now… can you still say that I don't have my name on her? Or if it's not enough, I'd tattoo my name on her skin." He grinned.

Kid gave Noah an I-can't-believe-you stare. "You actually did that just because of what I said? Heh." He smiled in amusement.

"Of course. I would do anything to make Crona mine. Anyway, that's not the only reason why we came back." He held Crona's face and pushed his cheek on her. "I wanted you to witness her going back to the book."

Kid was growing impatient and angry at the sight. He was already disgusted at how Noah touched Crona. "Let go of her," he said coldly. He could almost let go of the locks of the chains already.

"Who are you to say that, hmm?" He smiled.

"Who are you to touch her too?"

Noah could hear the anger in Kid's voice already which made him laugh. "I can't believe you're still asking that. I already told you. I'll be Crona's lover. And you… you have to accept the fact that you belong to Ren already."

"I don't belong to anyone but Crona. Let her go or I'll seriously kill you like how I killed your brother."

Noah's eyes widened a bit. "Such loyalty you have there." He stopped holding Crona but he still smiled at Kid. "It's just too bad that Crona doesn't know you now and whatever you're saying right not will just sound confusing to her." He stood up and lent a hand to Crona. "Come, Crona, it's time to go back."

"I… I don't want," Crona said softly, sounding frightened as she glanced up at Noah. She didn't put her hand on his.

"You're still coming back so don't be afraid."

"But it's scary there…!" Crona raised her voice a little bit which irritated Noah.

"I don't like to hear complains." He held Crona's hand and pulled her up as he opened the book.

"She said she doesn't want to!" Kid shouted as he hit Noah with the chains and pulled him towards him but before he got near to Kid, Kid already ran towards Crona. "Crona!"

Noah landed on the ground with the chains wrapped around him. He squinted as he gazed at Kid running towards Crona. The book have also fallen to the ground already but it was open already. Crona was being sucked in. Kid held Crona's hand and tried to pull her back but the force of the book was too strong. Crona glanced at Kid in surprise as they slowly got sucked into the book. She couldn't understand why he was trying to save her. She couldn't remember him. Kid, on the other hand, just kept holding her hand tight while shouting, "Crona, don't let go!"

Both Kid and Crona got sucked into the book. The light coming from the book disappeared and the book closed.

"Idiot," Noah said as he stood up and unwrapped the chains from his body. He shouted in anger.

"Master!" Gopher said as he abruptly came into the room. "What's wro—" he stopped when he saw Kid was no longer on the chair. "Where's Kid?"

"In the book of course! Where else?"

"What?" Gopher shrieked. "But how did that happen?"

"Don't ask, just go after them!" He opened the book again.

"Wait, I can't!" Before Gopher can continue to protests, he already got sucked into the book.

Noah closed the book and grunted in anger. He stormed out of the room and ordered to the guards, "don't let Ren nor Kazune come to this place, also tell the guards in the operating room to not let them come in there. Or tell them to close the CCTV."

"Yes, sir," the soldiers in black said.

XXX

Kazune knocked on Ren's door with a tray of food and water on his other hand. There was no response. "Ren, it's Kazune," he said as he knocked again. "I brought you breakfast." Once again, there was no response. He turned the doorknob and the door swung open slowly with a creaking sound. He quietly walked inside and saw Ren lying on her bed facing to the side, wearing a black nightgown. He sighed then placed the tray on her study table. He sat down beside her, placed his hands on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Don't tell me you're becoming anorexic?"

Ren slowly opened her eyes but she didn't look at him. "I just don't feel like eating," she said calmly.

"Did something happen?"

"Kid wouldn't… let me love him."

Kazune smirked, faced down and closed his eyes. "Of course, he wouldn't. He loves Crona."

"Kazune… I want him to forget about her."

Kazune glanced at Ren. She looked lost. Her eyes were unblinking and her voice was monotone. "You already got what you needed from him. Why do you still need him?"

Ren slowly sat up and placed a hand on her forehead as she looked at the red blanket on her lap. "You already said it. I still need him because I got what I needed from him. I've been looking for him. I've been waiting for the day that I can finally taste his blood. I just can't seem to let go of him now."

Kazune gave her a long stare then he finally looked away. "I guess I can understand that." He stood up and glanced down at Ren. "Just remember this. I'm always here for you." He quietly walked out of the room and left Ren perplexed by his last sentence.

"Kazune!" she shouted as she got off from her bed and ran towards the door. Kazune was still in the hallway. He looked back.

"What?"

"Kill them."

"Again. What?"

Ren held his forearm with both of her hands and looked up into his eyes. "The Spartoi. Kill them. Kill them all now."

Kazune raised his eyebrow, stunned by her caprice. "Why are you so desperate?"

Ren faced down. "I just realized that they might escape and get away in the plan."

"Well, you should have realized sooner." He started to walk away.

"Will you do it?"

"Why not?" he said without looking back. "It will only take a few minutes."

XXX

"I'm telling you, Hei, I sense it!" Dominique shouted. He and Hei were running through the woods.

"Sense what?" Hei asked, annoyed by the lacking information. He was running behind Dominique, pushing plants aside that were blocking his way.

"Maka's soul!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not just hallucinating or something? I'm quite aware that you don't have self perception."

"You might be right but I always get this feeling that Maka's around whenever she's just a few meters away and now I'm having the same feeling!" He paused and spun around slowly, trying to find Maka.

Hei closed his eyes and sighed as he walked pass Dominique. "But it's like we're the only ones around here." He dug his hands into his navy blue pants' pockets and kicked a rock. The rock surprisingly hit something that was invisible. "Huh?" Hei uttered when he saw that the rock fell too quickly.

"What's wrong?" Dominique asked. He stood beside Hei and looked at the rock he was looking at on the grassy ground.

"That… that rock." Hei walked forward and stretch out his arms.

"What do you think you're doing spreading out your arms like an idiot?" Dominique shouted. He quickly calmed down and cupped his chin as he contemplated at Hei. "Or more like a zombie."

Hei gasped when he felt a surface. "Hey, Dominique, come over here!"

"Don't boss me around!" He walked towards Hei.

Hei held Dominique's wrist and made him feel the invisible cement wall.

Dominique's eyes widened. "This must be some kind of secret lair," he whispered.

"I thought so too," Hei said as he continued to hold on the invisible wall while walking. "Let's try finding an entrance."

Dominique folded his arms behind his head and smirked. "See? I told you Maka's around."

Hei glared at him. "We haven't even seen her yet."

"Well, isn't this invisible building sufficient proof to you?"

"Not yet." His eyes narrowed. "Let's not jump to conclusions."

XXX

Black Star pounded on the ground with his fist. "Damn it! How are we supposed to pee or take a bath inside this thing?" he growled.

Tsubaki could only watch him looking angry from another corner in the cage. She waited til he calmed down. "Black Star…" she started.

Black Star stared at Tsubaki with serious eyes. "What is it?"

"Why do you think we're still being held captive?"

"Uh… isn't it obvious? They don't want us to get in the way."

"Yeah but what do you think will they do with us?"

Suddenly the door of the large room opened as Kazune entered. "I'll answer that question for you, Ms. Nakatsukasa," he said as he went to the center of the room, to the table where the control for glass cages is. Black Star scowled at him.

"Why does that guy always seem like he can hear us even when he's outside the room?" Black Star whispered in a harsh voice without looking at Tsubaki.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you?" Kazune said as he faced Black Star. "Whatever you people here say echoes throughout the hallways. Anyway, I'm sorry but it's time to say goodbye. It was nice hearing your conversations though." Kazune clicked on a red circular button on the table.

Black Star's pupil reduced when he suddenly heard something move from the ground. Two small holes formed on the metallic floor, but huge enough for the naked eye I can see. Water surged up from the holes and it spread out in the cage. Fear began to build up in every Spartoi member as they stared at the ground with either worried or frustrated faces. Outside the cages, Kazune started to walk out of the room, looking apathetic.

"He's going to pay for this," Black Star shouted after Kazune closed the door. "Tsubaki, double chain scythe mode," he ordered.

Tsubaki nodded and began to transform.

XXX

Kid saw a pinpoint of light. His eyes slowly opened his eyes and found himself floating. He looked up and saw the gray sky. No doubt, he was already in the Book of Eibon. The place looked too familiar for him not to tell. He suddenly heard an eerie whisper from his back. He quickly turned around and saw The Black Mass. At first he was surprised but he gradually smirked. "Long time no see," he said to it.

"Why are you back here?" The Black Mass asked.

"I came to save a certain someone that you have probably seen already."

"I don't know who you're talking about."

Kid's eyes widened. "Crona! You haven't seen her? She must be here somewhere!" He balled his fists at it.

"You mean the girl with the pink hair?"

"Yes! Where is she?"

"So that's her name."

Kid smiled. "Beautiful, huh?" He shook his head. "Anyway, please help me. I need to see her!"

"Sorry but my function is to drive men to madness. Remember Asura? I played the devolution of him into the first kishin. And your friend happens to be the next. It is my work to give her enough madness and you're not allowed to stop it."

He gritted his teeth. "Who ordered you to do this?"

"Nobody did, boy. I exist because of what I'm supposed to do. Anyone who enters this part of the book will be automatically treated by me."

He closed his eyes. "Does that mean… I'll go mad in here again."

"That is, if you won't be able to control yourself."

"Fine, atleast tell me where Crona is."

"Even if you find her, she won't remember you anymore. She have already forgotten about you, boy. I heard her myself saying it was nice meeting you though. She's consumed by madness now and it's impossible for you to bring her back to normal. She's on her way to becoming the next kishin."

He looked away. "I should at least try."

The both of them became quiet. The empty stillness stretch on so long. Finally The Black Mass spoke.

"Very well then. She's somewhere at the end of the maze."

"Maze? What maze?" Kid turned around and started searching for this maze the Black Mass was talking about. Then he saw it. "Ugh," he uttered. His mouth slightly opened and his eyes widened more in shock. The maze was so wide. "What kind of game is this," he whispered to himself in an angry voice.

"You cannot fly using Beelzebub here so expect that you'll take more than a day before you reach your friend."

Kid looked back. "Okay. Please let me down now." He slowly fell to the ground. After landing, he started running towards the maze's entrance. He gazed around as he walked through the maze. He noticed that walls were covered with roots of roses and there were roses… but they were black, much to his surprise. He hasn't seen black roses before. He didn't even believe in its existence. He began to wonder where they come from. He saw that they didn't come from the ground so there must be some kind of source. "Crona…" he whispered. His head started to ache. He held on the wall where there were no roots of roses for support. He placed a hand on his face. Some kind of mist started to cloud up in front of him. "The madness… it's overtaking again… not good… must stay… focused…" he slowly transformed into his madness form. He fell to the ground.

"Wait… why am I here?" he thought as he held the ground. He watched the empty floor inside the maze as he tried to remember what he was doing there. His vision was still blurry though. He turned his body around and faced the gray sky for a while then noticed the black roses on the walls and its thorny roots. "That's right." His vision became clear again as he pushed himself up. "Crona…" he said her name again to himself for the second time. He continued his way to find Crona despite the madness that was overwhelming in him already. "Wait for me…"


	34. Acknowledgement of Demise

**A/N: **I made this chapter many days ago but I just didn't want to upload it yet. XD

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 34: Revelation**

Dominique took out his phone from his pocket and dialed Stein's number. Hei waited patiently beside him. They were still standing outside the invisible lair surrounded by different kinds of weird-looking trees and the scorching sun was already way up in the middle of the light blue sky. It was as if it wasn't December.

"Hey, Professor Stein, we found the lair!" Dominique said excitedly on the phone.

"That's great. Where are you two?" Stein replied. Hei could hear his voice.

Dominique momentarily gazed around. "I'm not sure…"

Hei sighed. "Give me that." He took the phone from Dominique. "Professor Stein, Hei here. We're somewhere deep in the Necro Forest, approximately 42 kilometers from Death City eastward."

Spirit took the phone from Stein. "Azusa, is that you? !" he shouted on the phone.

Hei just narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrow as he sweatdropped.

Stein snatched back the phone from Spirit. "Anyway, thank you for the information, Hei. We'll be there as soon as possible with reinforcements. Right now, please try helping the others."

"Yes, sir." He ended the call and turned around to face Domique who was glaring at him since he took his phone. "Here," he said as he gave the phone back.

"Dude, you creep me out. How did you know such information?"

"I just saw that sign a while ago," Hei said nonchalantly and with his thumb, he pointed at the sign '42 Kilometers from Death City' on rectangular plywood nailed on a huge tree. He opened his hand, showing his pocket compass. "Also, I have this compass so I knew what direction we were taking on."

"Oh," Dominique said rather quickly with his turquoise eyes widened.

Hei gasped a little as he saw something from afar. "Look out!" he shouted as he pushed Dominique to the side. A projectile was sent whisking towards them but fortunately, they were able to escape it. They stood up and saw that is was an arrow. It got stuck on the trunk of the tree instead of hitting Dominique.

Dominique sighed in relief as he placed a hand on Hei's shoulder. "Thanks, dude. I owe you my life."

Hei smiled hesitantly. "Don't mention it," he said. Then he and Dominique stood firm and scowled at the soldier with a bow and arrow. They couldn't see his eyes because of his sunglasses. "He came from that entrance."

"I don't see it," Dominique said, sounding more serious, still looking at the soldier who was about to shoot them again.

"You'll see." Hei quickly changed into his weapon form. The soldier was surprised to see that Hei can change into a weapon. He immediately took out a walkie talkie to call for back up.

"This is number 101 needing back up at the entrance, over." He threw the walkie talkie on the floor and started shooting Dominique with the arrows.

Dominique held the two swords and rushed towards the soldier, skipping from left to right and vice versa to prevent from getting hit. He was running so fast that the soldier was getting confused already. Dominique smirked as he drew his face close to the soldier. The few seconds before smiting him seemed to become slow motioned. The soldier looked at Dominique in shock. He felt his body stiffened as he felt his demise was near. Dominique held the bow that was in the soldier's arms, threw it aside and sliced the soldier in half which sent him falling to the floor, spurting out blood all over. Dominique landed on his knee and foot. He stood up and turned around. He looked down on the dying soldier with an evil grin on his face.

"That's for sneaking up on us," he said to the solider then turned around to enter the lair.

XXX

Hei was back to normal and they were walking in the dark hallways of the lair already. He facepalmed himself.

"Did you really have to go that far as to slice him in half?" he said as he looked at Dominique with one eye, the other still being covered by his hand.

"What are you saying? You think we should have just let him take us into captivity?" Dominique said, raising an eyebrow.

Hei stopped walking and faced Dominique. He balled his hands into fists as he glared at Dominique. "That's not what I me—"

"It's no use! We can't break it!" shouted Ox. Dominique and Hei heard looked up at the speakers on the ceiling of the hallways where the voice came from.

"Let's try it again!" Kim shouted back.

"Hey, dude, that was Kim!" Dominique said as he looked at Hei with his eyes widened.

"You really recognize all the voices of Maka-senpai's friends, huh?" Hei said with a suspicious look on his face.

Dominique sweatdropped, laughed hesitantly as he scratched his orange hair at the back of his head and closed his eyes.

"This way!" shouted by some men from afar. Dominique and Hei looked at the direction where the voices came from. They could tell they were the 'back up'. Hei grabbed Dominique's wrist and dragged them to the back inside an empty room. They sat down behind the door without making a single noise as they listened to the soldiers ran through the hallways towards the entrance of the liar.

"Why did you do that?" Dominique asked Hei, sounding like demanding an acceptable answer.

"They're too many," Hei said as he stood up. "We couldn't kill them all."

"We could have taken them one by one, you know!"

"What if they have guns? We're no match to a group of people with guns. Let's save our energy for later."

Dominique folded his hands in front of his chest. "Fine," he said as he looked away. He was sitting in Indian style. Suddenly they heard the loud sound Black Star's weapon produced when it hit the glass cage from the speakers outside the room. They looked up when they heard it.

"They must be trapped somewhere," Hei said. He looked down at Dominique with his dark brown eyes. "We got to save him before the soldiers come back."

XXX

Raven held on the glass cage with both of his hands and glanced at Tsubaki who was inside another glass cage across theirs.

"Tsubaki-san!" he shouted.

Tsubaki turned around after transforming back into human. "What is it, Raven?" she held on the glass.

"Before we die, I'd like you to know that I'm your cousin Daisuke!" Raven shouted as he closed his eyes.

Tsubaki stood there for a while, too shock to speak while the water in their glass cage reached her waists already. "D-Daisuke? Son of Aunt Tomomi?"

"Yes," Raven said then faced down and gritted his teeth.

"Does that mean…"

"Ren is your cousin too. She's Ayame, my long lost sister!"

Everyone was shocked to hear Raven confess that Ren is his sibling.

"Vampires… who always had a grudge on the Naktsukasa clan… attacked us a long time ago in our home," Raven continued, but everyone could tell that he was having hard time letting it out since he talked so slow with bitterness in his voice. "We managed… to survive. But mom and dad… they died. I got separated from Ren. Kazune found me while Ren… she got caught by the vampires… surprisingly, they didn't kill her. Normally, they would… but instead, they turned Ren into one of them… and she… she was ordered to harm your father… that's why Uncle Sanjuro is sick right now. But… she never wanted to do such things… if she didn't do it… the vampires wouldn't believe that she was really on their side already… she wanted to be human again… she didn't want to kill any of her relatives and other humans anymore. She made a deal with Noah."

XXX

Ren was hearing the conversation as she ran through the hallways of the lair to get to the room where Spartoi was being captivated. She was starting to get angry at Raven again.

"Why the hell is he saying those things to her? !" she thought angrily. She stopped at a hallway cabinet and picked up a silver gun then continued on her way. "Let's see if he'll still survive from their situation right now. If not, I guess he can't face the consequence waiting for him for telling my secrets."

"Ren!" Kazune said, surprised to see her when he came out of the lair's control room. Ren didn't stop to look at him and just kept walking fast. "Where are you going?" He held Ren's shoulder and pulled her back.

"What?" Ren shouted.

"Where are you going?"

"To give my brother his punishment of course!" She shoved his hand away and continued to walk fast. Kazune ran after her.

"But they he _is _being punished already! Along with the other members of Spartoi!"

"I want to punish him myself!"

"For what? For telling your secret? He's going to die anyway, so why are you still making it a hassle to go there?"

"I already told you!"

Kazune stood before Ren and held her shoulders. "Wait, wait! How about if I get him and you wait at the largest room of this building for him? I'm going to bring him to you, okay? Just wait."

Ren was still glaring at Kazune for stopping her. "How about the others?"

Kazune chuckled. "They'll be dead of course."

Ren stared at the ground. "Fine… take this," she said as she gave the silver gun to Kazune.

XXX

"Wha… what deal, Raven?" asked Tsubaki.

"She… she made a deal… that she'll give Crona to him if he helps her get Kid."

"But why does she need Kid?"

"Because Kid-sensei has a Type D blood. If any human who turned into a vampire drink a shinigami's blood they can turn back to normal." He finally glanced at Tsubaki. Scarlet couldn't say a word. It was also her first time to hear about Raven's past. She could only look at him with concern written all over her face. "Not only that…" Raven continued. "She admires Kid-sensei a lot. She wants to break Kid and Crona's relationship." He raised his head. The water was getting into his mouth already. "That's why… that's why all these things happened!" He closed his eyes again as his body got drowned in the water.

"Raven!" Scarlet shouted as she swam towards him. He was slowly falling to the floor already. Their cage was mostly occupied by the water that came in already. There was still two feet between the ceiling and the water. She swam inside the water towards Raven. "This can't be right…" she thought. "Raven knows how to swim… but he lets himself get drowned so soon…" she wrapped her arms around his head and held his shoulder. She brought them back to the surface of the water.

"Raven, wake up!" she pleaded as he held his face. "You can't let yourself die! It's not over!"

"Let me go, Scarlet," Raven said gently with his eyes still closed. Water from his black bangs kept dripping down on his face. "We're all going to drown anyway."

"No…" Scarlet said as she shook her head. "Someone will rescue us!"

"It's impossible…" Raven said as he finally open his dark green eyes a little bit and looked at Scarlet's hazel eyes. "Since we came inside… they made this lair invisible."

Scarlet bit her lip and stared at Raven for a long time, trying to see if he was being serious. She couldn't believe it. No, she didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to think that they were going to die already."

Raven slowly closed his eyes again. "Raven, look at me," Scarlet said, the first time Raven heard her sounding demanding. "Look at me," she repeated as she cupped his face and looked deeply into his eyes. "You're the one who told me that I shouldn't give up in life! You should show a good example! You said you wanted to become one of Lord Death's weapons, right? I promised to make you one so you shouldn't try dying! I… I still want to keep that promise… and I still want to look for the murderer of my parents and let him pay back for what he did with your help. You told me you'll help me… you promised, Raven!" She closed her eyes as tears started to leak out from her eyes.

Raven was shocked for a while after all she said then he gradually showed a sweet yet sad smile, knowing that there's no need to find the murderer of her parents. He was already in front of her, he no longer even felt guilty and he wasn't sure why. It was as if he accepted the fact that he was indeed a murderer. "Scarlet…" He held her hands that were on his face and gently took them away from his face. "There's no need to look for that murderer… you already found him… that's why you have to let me go… and let me die." He slowly swam a bit far away from her.

Scarlet opened her eyes. Her pupils reduced. "You already found him… let me die…" the words reverberated in her mind for like five times as she watched Raven drown slowly. "D-does that mean…? !"

Before she could finish her thought, the doors of the large doors of the door were slammed open. Hei and Dominique stood at the door way and when they saw that everyone was drowning in their cages already, they quickly ran to the center of the room where the controls can be found. Hei glanced at Ox. He tried drawing a circle on the glass with his finger. He couldn't speak since the water reached his mouth already. Hei quickly got the idea. He faced down at the controls and saw huge red circle button. He pushed it down and the waters inside the water cages quickly drained.

"Where the heck is the control to open those cages? !" Dominique shouted.

"How could I know? !" Hei shouted as he too tried reading the words under the buttons that weren't familiar, but they can read them since they were in English. Problem is they didn't even know how to pronounce them or what their meanings were. Hei was starting to think that the words were just made up by the one who made the controls so that he can be the only one who understands them. No doubt, it was Kazune, whom he didn't know much about yet.

"Then let's start hitting anything we can!" Dominique shouted as he pressed on a button.

"Hey! Don't be so careless, will ya? !" shouted Hei. He watched him pressed the button.

It turns out that the button Dominique pressed was the button for the cages to lose its capacity to withstand any attack by weapons that hit them. Before he could press another button, he and Hei suddenly heard the sound of a gun click from behind them. They turned around and saw Kazune with soldiers standing behind him with guns in their hands.


	35. Painting Flowers with Blood

**A/N:** _Thank you so much Chabeli and The Animal Monster for the kind review especially because you've been reading the story up to the 34th chapter! Anyway, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger and the hiatus. I've been caught up dealing with enrollment requirements and… Kuroshitsuji, my current obsession. I recommend you to watch it if you like dark comedy, action, etc. It has death gods and demons like Soul Eater but its style and story is rather very different, it's kind of darker and its art style is splendid (to me, that is) but Soul Eater is still the best. ^^_

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Soul Eater.

**Chapter 35: Painting Flowers**

Dirty white sky hovered over Death the Kid who stared at a gray wall, awestruck at the symmetrical outline of a spider on it formed by stems of roses full of thorns. He gaped and his eyes widened in admiration at the unique formation. He felt his legs weak. And he trudged towards the figure on the wall and was about to hold it until he remembered something.

"Wait," he said. His open hands twitched, his eyes narrowed and his mouth closed. He bowed his head, closed his eyes and held his forehead with four of his fingers. "What am I doing? I'm getting distracted again. This is only a hindrance to my goal." He placed his hand on his hip, stepped his foot to the side a bit far from his other foot and he turned around. He opened his eyes. "If I can't use Beelzebub here, this journey will definitely take long," he calmly thought to himself as he dug his hands into his pockets. "There should at least be some clues as to where I should go." He gazed around the place. He was walking through blank walls that have some stems of roses. Their formation wasn't symmetrical at all, not like the one he saw just seconds ago. He felt like he just kept going around the same places he had been for the past half hour. Maybe it was the madness that was trying to overtake him or maybe, he thought, just maybe he was losing his good sense of direction. Suddenly he heard a light thud behind him. He quickly looked back and saw a tail of a rabbit at the end of another hallway. He arched an eyebrow. "What's a… rabbit doing here?" he whispered quietly to himself. He turned around and slowly walked towards the rabbit's tail. Suddenly, it disappeared. He gasped as his pupils reduced. He started running to follow the rabbit.

.

.

The soldiers in black with Kazune pointed their snipers at Hei and Dominique as the large fluorescent lights above them turned on, revealing the trespassers, saviors rather, fully. Kazune raised one hand to cease the soldiers. He stepped forward from the group of soldiers with a smirk on his face.

"Don't shoot unless I tell you," he said to the soldiers without facing them though he looked back at them. He then shifted his gaze to the two boys at the center of the room. "Hei Mikami and Dominique Crest, what a surprise to see you both here," he said calmly.

Hei gave Kazune a shrewd glare as he stood firm while Dominique just grinned and folded his arms over his chest. "Surprise," he said.

Kazune frowned and his eyes became half-lidded. "I'm sorry to tell you this but we don't like unexpected visitors. If you're thinking you'll be able to leave this place alive, think again." He closed his eyes and placed his fist over his mouth. He chuckled.

"Tch," Dominique uttered. "Hei," he whispered. Hei nodded gently and quickly transformed into his weapon form. Dominique grabbed him from the air and prepared himself to battle with Kazune.

"So you want a fight, huh?" Kazune asked rhetorically. He took out his black pistol from his denims and held it tight with one hand. "Bring it on," he said and smiled as he chinned up.

.

.

"Where the heck did that white rabbit went to?" Kid thought as he spun around the place. At his back, at his sides and in front of him were hallways leading to places he wasn't sure about except for the one at his back. He decided to move forward. As he ran through the wall, he came to a dead end. At the end of the hallway was just another wall like the one he saw before but this time there was no symmetrical figure anymore. But when he faced down he saw a large black hole, large enough for a person to fit inside. He carefully walked toward it and glared down. He couldn't see anything. "This might be some kind of well but why is there no bucket?" he thought. "And why would there be a well in a maze? First, a rabbit. Now a hole?" He sighed as he closed his eyes. "Don't tell me I'm in some kind of wonderland?" He turned around and saw the hallway. "Well, there must be another way but I did wish for a clue and maybe that rabbit was the clue. Rabbits live in a hole, right, Kid?" He asked himself then looked back at the hole. "But that hole is ridiculously large for a rabbit." He faced the hole again. "Oh, well." He stretched out his leg then let himself fall into the dark hole. He looked up and was seeing the sky and hole getting small every second. "Whoever made that maze is probably someone tragic," he thought, "someone who would escape from reality and build up a world of dark magic."

.

.

"Oof," Kazune uttered as he got knocked to the ground causing a large thud. Dominique, with an evil grin on his face, drew his swords closer to Kazune's neck. He stared down at him with those merciless, seething eyes showing his hunger to rip Kazune in to pieces. Kazune could only stare back at him with his narrowed eyes, calming himself. He diverted his eyes and saw his gun far on the tiled floor far away from them. He then smirked at Dominique.

"I must say… I'm impressed," he told Dominique. "Even though I have my soldiers as back up, you didn't hesitate to fight with me. They could have all shot you and you could have been dead minutes ago. Lucky for you, I ordered them to not to shoot until I say so."

Dominique's grin just became wider. Finally, he opened his mouth. "That just shows you're incompetent without them. You can't beat us without back up. Just look at yourself now. You got knocked out in just 10 minutes and you don't even have your weapon in your hands anymore. You're nothing but a deus ex machine, Kazune. I'm also impressed by your knowledge of technology and research. You did a good job locking up my colleagues in glasses with great capacity that can suppress their powers but you know what? You're also such a git for making a button attractive and obvious to my eyes even when I couldn't understand the label above it."

Kazune glared. "What button?"

"Oh, you know… the button that can lose the great capacity of the glasses and make them fragile just like normal glasses. Of all the colors, why did you make it red?" His shoulders started twitched as he chuckled to himself. "If you were researching about me and Hei… you should have known I like red things… red cars… red shoes… red contact lenses… red buttons… and best of all…" he pushed the blade of one of his sword on Kauzne's neck and slightly cut it. Bulbous blood came out from the small wound and ran down his neck. Kazune's eyes widened as he gasped a little. "… Red blood." He grinned once again.

Kazune's arms were sprawled out on the floor. Dominique pushing him down on the floor made him slightly hard to breathe. He managed to raise his other hand. The black soldiers peered into the scopes of their snipers and were ready to shoot Dominique but suddenly they lowered their guns and raised their heads up when all glass cages broke. Debris of the glasses flew around the room. Kazune and Dominique closed their eyes as pieces of glasses fell on them. After the boisterous sound of breaking of glass es, Black Star and the others stood behind and at the sides of Dominique, holding their respective weapons, ready to fight the soldiers and Kazune.

Noah pushed aside the soldiers that were sitting and were assigned to look at the screens of the CCTVS. He gripped the table and looked at one screen. He saw Spartoi and the soldiers in the large room. He glared.

"Their ruining the plan!" he said angrily. He still watched as Spartoi fought against the soldiers.

"Sir, what should we do?" one soldier said behind him.

Noah looked back at him. "Make yourselves useful and help them fight those brats!"

The soldiers saluted and they disappeared from the dark room right away. Noah face palmed himself then looked at the Book of Eibon that was resting on the table. "Gopher, you better not fail," he said.

.

.

Kid could perceive nothing but darkness but he then started to hear unusual wails and sounds of steel echoing. Suddenly, a hand gripped his arm and then another… and another on his other arm… on his legs neck. He gritted his teeth as he tried to push away the hands that had chains on their wrists. He figured out that even though he couldn't see them, the lower arms come from the walls of the hole. If Kid was a normal person, he could have screamed in fear already knowing that less than fifty unknown people that you couldn't see were trying to grab you. An arm actually held his hair and mouth but he quickly pushed them all away. He continued to fall into darkness, successfully surpassed that hellish part. He guessed that they were zombies especially when that hand held his mouth. It was so cold and he could tell there was no more blood in it.

He then reached the end of the hole. He roughly landed on the surface full of water –or so he thought it was. His head hit the wall and his ass hit the watery surface hard. He could have stand if he knew that he was already near to the surface. He scratched his aching head as he squeezed his eyes shut. He could hear the water splashing as he moved around. Luckily, it wasn't deep. When he was sitting, it only reached his waist but when he held onto the wall and stood up, the water reached half of his lower feet. When he opened his eyes, he saw skulls and other skeletal parts in the water but he was totally unfazed by this; he was a reaper, a death god. It would be stupid for him to be scared of something like that. He was able to see what's under water since there was actually a large tunnel with candle light on the walls. The tunnel was connected to the end of the hole. He wondered where the water came from. When he looked at the wall, there was a sign on a gold plate saying, "Tears of the Betrayed." The words reverberated in Kid's mine and he figured out that the water under him was actually tears of his beloved.

He looked at the tunnel that was slightly dark. He slowly stepped inside. There was still water, tears rather, inside. The walls were actually made of brown bricks that look like they're in ruins already. But what was really bothering him was the candles. He wondered who lit them. He shook his head to forget about the question. He just thought there might be some people who live at the end of the tunnel. But, he thought, if the people aren't actually friend, he won't get to turn back anymore. Hell, he didn't know how he'll able to climb up back to that dreadful maze if that was the safe place. He continued his way and he almost reached the end of the tunnel.

Outside the tunnel, he saw, was full of green and flower plants. He could see grasses and could hear birds chirping, making him feel less tensed. He was still a young boy; of course, he still had fear in him even just a little. He stepped out of the tunnel and gazed around. It was like he was in a new world. The place was sunny. There was a normal sun and some white fluffy clouds and he could hear someone playing music on a violin. At his left, he saw a narrow river where the tears in the well and tunnel came from. When he looked far to right, he saw a skirted white table surrounded by splendid kinds of colorful flowers then there were three people. First one he saw was a guy standing up, playing piano. Then second was a girl sitting on one of the chairs drinking tea with… "Gopher? !" Kid thought in surprise as his eyes widened. He recognized the style of Gopher's hair. "What is _he _doing here?" He tried to think why. Even though he didn't actually know that he was sent by Noah to kill him, he already guessed that he was. Something caught Kid's eyes. When he looked at the boy and girl in Victorian clothes, one of their legs had bandages. Then he saw two buckets of water on the ground not far from the table. "I guess they're Jack and Jill who fell of the hill," he thought as he hid behind some bushes. Later he saw the white rabbit. For some reasons, he felt hope and vigor return to him. He quickly sat up straight and made the leaves of the bushes rustle.

"Did you guys hear that?" Gopher asked as he put down his cup of tea.

"Nope," Jill replied. "But it must have been some kind of insect." She smiled at Gopher as she held a pot of tea and poured tea into Gopher's cup.

"I'm… an insect?" Kid thought. He sweatdropped. The white rabbit suddenly started running again and Kid screamed inside. He started crawling on the grass until he was far from Gopher and the two already. When he reached the woods where the rabbit went in, he stood up and went inside the dark woods. He tried looking around as he walked, searching for the rabbit again. "I have no time to play hide and seek, rabbit," he said a little louder. "Come out, come out wherever you are," he said in a sing sang matter yet there was annoyance in his tone. He looked behind a tree where he heard something rustling. His face flashed in disappointment when he only saw leaves, more grasses and more trees. Then there was a silhouette of someone on the ground. He quickly turned around. A knife nearly hit his face. Instead it was impaled into the trunk of the tree behind Kid. Kid rested his back and hands on the stem of the tree as he gazed at the piercing red eyes of a guy with shoulder-length lilac hair in a suite and a top hat. At first, they exchanged serious glances. "I knew it… I knew the people here won't be friendly," Kid thought frantically but he kept his face void of emotion.

The mysterious guy took out his knife from the tree and he smiled at Kid. "I guess you're not from around," he said then turned around. "If I were you, I wouldn't wander around here too much. This place is dangerous, little boy." He looked back and threw his knife at Kid but luckily Kid held its blade with just two of his fingers.

Kid smirked. "You could have thrown two knives to make it symmetrical. You know… I prefer things to be symmetrical."

"Well, you're a weird one." The lilac-haired boy faced him. He was taller than Kid for three inches. "So what bring you here?" He started walking and Kid decided to follow anyway.

"I'm here to save someone," Kid said as he walked and watched as he tapped the unharmful side of the knife's blade on the palm of his hands.

"Oh? Well then why is that it looked like you were just playing hide and seek with someone?" he didn't look back at Kid.

"I was, sort of." He looked away then looked at the lilac-hair boy in front of him again. "I was looking for a white rabbit that led me here. I thought if I followed it, I can find the person I want to save."

The mysterious guy smiled, though his bangs covered his eyes. He turned to face Kid. "You sound like a little kid, you know that?" Kid only glared at him. "But I'm glad you act childish and thought you should follow the rabbit. The rabbit is late for the queen's awakening and so am I." He closed his eyes and chuckled. "But it's not like I'll get in trouble. I'm nothing to the queen anyway." He turned around and started to walk again.

"For some reason, that sounded sad," Kid said gently as he followed the guy again.

"Actually… it's not. The queen has forgotten to think of worthy things after her long depression. I was just saying that I'm nothing to her since I don't really have a position. I'm just a mere town's boy who likes wondering around the forest while that rabbit was the queen's secretary."

Kid gave him a quizzical look. "Then why wasn't he wearing any clothes?"

The lilac-haired boy suddenly skidded and stood in front of Kid. He tapped Kid's head. "You're really expecting this to be like Wonderland, huh? Well, if that's so then you're Alice. And you're not actually a girl, right? So don't complain if the rabbit is not wearing any clothes. This is a different wonderful." He smiled and looked away. "In fact, this isn't even wonderland. It's just a place created by the imagination of the queen. I'm just one of the creations of the queen, young boy. But you…" He looked at Kid and held his shoulders. "You're actually a real person. So you should feel lucky."

Kid looked into the guy's eyes showing emotions mixed with sadness and joy. "Will… you, perchance, disappear if the queen imagines you to disappear?"

The guy laughed. "Of course I will. My life is according to her imagination and right now she's still dreaming since she's still sleeping. Once she wakes up this kind of place, me along with the others will disappear. I really should attend her awakening but you know what? People there are so stupid. It's pointless to attend it. We will all disappear when she wakes up anyway. Soon when she wakes up, things will go back to normal. This is the Book of Eibon after all. There's no happiness here. It's just full of grayness and spaces around here and thanks to the queen; she filled up some placed with her dreams and we got to live even just for a short time before she wakes up and become a whole different person who won't be having such dreams anymore." He smiled thankfully then let go of Kid.

Kid frowned at what he just heard. "So you were saying this place is dangerous just because your queen might imagine or dream of something dangerous?"

The guy nodded then he sat down behind a tree and looked up at Kid.

"And this queen you're saying… is she someone with a thin body, pink hair and pale skin?"

The guy smiled. "Yes," he simply said.

"Then that must be… Crona." His eyes narrowed. "Is there a way for me to see her?"

"Well, of course, but it wouldn't be easy for someone like you to enter the place where she's now since you're not part of her imagination."

"I'll do anything to get to her. Please tell me what to do."

The guy closed his eyes. "I only know one way."

"What is it?"

"Go to that place," he pointed to the north, "Paint flowers for the queen."

"Huh?" Kid uttered as he gave the guy another quizzical look. "You're… kidding me right? Are flowers supposed to be painted?"

"Yeah, well… since they're white, you can paint them."

Kid sighed. "Fine. So where's the materials?"

"You're holding it."

Kid stared at the knife he was holding. "This isn't even a paint brush."

"I know," he stood up. "You'll harm yourself, use your own blood and hands to paint atleast one flower." He grinned.

"That's… that's crazy!" Kid said as he looked up at the guy.

"You said you would do anything, young boy."

Kid facepalmed himself. "I have never heard of painting flowers using your own blood before but yes, I did say I would do anything." He took his hand from his face and smiled at the guy. "Thank you for your information. I'm Death the Kid, by the way. Sorry for the late introduction."

The guy smiled. "I'm Ferro," he said then he took out something from his bag. "Take this. I bet this will be useful to you." He gave him some sort of gray cape.

Kid glared at him. "Just because I'm going to save some one doesn't mean I'll be some kind of superhero with a cape you know."

The guy chuckled. "Come on. It's a nice touch."

Kid sighed. "And you called me weird." He dropped the knife on the ground and he wore the cape. "Hey, how does it look?" When he looked up, Ferro was gone already. He gazed around to look for him. Once again, he was alone. Then it hit him. "Since Ferro's gone already, then that must mean…" His eyes widened. "Crona's awake already!" He picked up the knife and started running to the north. He got out of the woods and saw a garden of white flowers. "Atleast one," Ferro's words reiterated in his mind. "These flowers will probably disappear as well," he thought as he ran towards one flower. He looked at his wrists and cut it a bit with his knife. He let the blood drop to the flower for eighth times it was almost painted in red already. Good thing it was just a little rose. Suddenly the sky gradually turned light gray and the roses got detached from their stems. The petals flew with the wind that passed. Kid dropped the bloody knife again and he decided to follow the flying white petals. He walked through stoned walls and reached a body of water that looked a small lake. He witnessed the petals fall to the water then from far away, he saw the other people Crona imagined turning into dusts already. Then he saw the most surprising this he has ever seen in his entire life. He saw Crona hanging against a tree.

"Crona!" he shouted. He looked down at the water and saw that it wasn't actually deep. He stepped on it. It looks like it was just ankle deep. He fought against the water's force until he got close to Crona. He stood in front of her and saw that she was surrounded by stems of roses but she doesn't get hurt by them. By the look of it, Kid thought the stems actually come from her. "Crona!" he shouted again. Crona was actually awake already. Her eyes were half-lidded and she just kept facing down. Kid didn't actually know what to say. He knew this wasn't the same Crona anymore but he hoped that her old self is still somewhere in her. But her old self was probably sad because of him… because of what happened that night. Kid didn't know if Crona will understand if he explained but he still wanted to try. When he was about to talk again, he noticed the white rabbit hanging below her and it surprised him to see it dead. It got killed by the spiky stems of roses that came from Crona's body… that's what Kid thought. Suddenly, Crona slowly fell from the tree but before she reached the ground, Kid caught her in his arms. "Crona," he whispered worriedly and looked at her. She was wearing her madness suite again. Kid forgot what he was about to say and he thought about the rabbit.

"Why… why did you kill the rabbit?" Kid said with a slightly trembling voice.

"It was late," Crona whispered. "And mother told me to kill it." Even though her voice was little, Kid loved it that he got to hear her voice again. He thought he'll never see, hear or hold her again.

The demised rabbit slowly turned to dusts like the others.

"Crona, please look at me," he cupped Crona's face and stared into her gray gloomy eyes. "You remember me, right?"

"No," Crona said gently. "I do not."

Kid looked down at the ground in disappointment. He smiled. "You really chose to forget me, huh? Just for the reason you saw me and Ren. Crona… I'd like you to know… that there's nothing between me and Ren… she only wanted my blood. It turns out that she was a human who turned into a vampire. And she wanted to be human again… and the only way to make that happen was to… drink my blood." He stared into Crona's eyes again. "So please… please don't think you got replaced… don't think that there's any other girl I love other than you… I love you for who you are… and for who I am when I am with you… I probably said this again… but you're the one who really made me realize that imperfection can be perfect too… you made me stop worrying so much about symmetry… if I continued to worry so much about it… I wouldn't know how to love you."

Crona saw Kid smiling as joy of tears ran down his face. "You are… Kid… right?"

Kid's eyes widened. "Yes," he quickly said. "Yes, I am. You finally remember."

"I'm sorry… Kid… but I'm not the same person you knew... I might even kill you now… I'm now the new kishin." She looked away from him.

Kid shook his head and held Crona's hands. Crona looked at him. "That's not true," he said, with a tone that forces her to believe what he just said. "You're still Crona… but with a new purpose and form… but you will always be the Crona that I loved."

Crona once again looked down. "I don't understand… why you still want to love someone… who chose to forget you and accepted to be someone who'll make the world miserable."

"My promise… remember? I promised to love you forever. I said I want to keep that promise and I never want to break it. I'm here… to stop you from being someone that you mentioned." He held the back of her head and combed her silky pink hair as he stared at her with a smile. "I'm here… to save a fallen angel," he repeated the words he said to her months ago.

"Kid…" she whispered and stared at him with misty eyes.

"It's okay… don't cry…" he wiped away her tears with the pad of his other thumb and he put his forehead against hers. "Like I said… I can never get mad at you after the kindness you've shown to me that was like no other." He smiled and pressed his lips against hers as he held both his hair and neck gently. Crona was at first, startled at the sudden action but later her eyes gently closed. She held onto Kid's chest and let Kid dominate her. No matter how much she tried to forget him, she couldn't really forget the days she spent him… the days when she only looked at him and knew she'll be safe… and a day like that happened again. Kid was there again with him, holding her like he'll never let go of her, making her feel wanted like he used to, showing his passion she always loved.

.

.

**A/N:** _I have got to say… this is the weirdest chapter I have ever made mainly because Kid was being in some sort of wonderland and I think I didn't narrate what I imagine the way I wanted. It was probably confusing but I hope you understood even just a bit. To make up for the days that I haven't been updating, I made this chapter long. XD Well, thanks for reading and I hope you stay tune for the next chap. _ I think the story will end at chapter 40._


	36. The Trigger of the Silver Gun

**A/N: **Legacy23 and I decided to collaborate. This chapter and the next chapter will compose of her writing and mine.I just thought that her story had a connection to mine so I asked her if we can combine our story. I'm glad she accepted. Thank you so much, Regashi! Thank you also Chabeli for the review. ^^ Marc is Regashi's original character.

**Disclaimer:** We don't own Soul Eater! D:

**Chapter 36: Trigger**

(By Sitakazukin)

The soldiers lay on the floor almost dead… wailing, wincing, screaming in pain, gripping the parts of their body where it hurts. Smoke formed by gunfire clouded up the room. The ignition caused the fire sprinklers to activate and soon everyone in the room was already wet. Black Star and the others stood firm in the midst of the soldiers, panting… satisfied with their victory. Across the hall was Kazune being pinned down on the ground by Scarlet who ignored the scratches and blood on Kazune's body, looked into his eyes with abhorrent, hating him with a burning passion for betraying his weapon. Kazune could only stare back with a face void of emotion, as if not injured greatly.

"How… howcome you hate Raven when he didn't do anything wrong to you?" Scarlet started to speak calmly as she was still holding Raven in his weapon form against Kazune's neck. "You selfishly thought that it was Raven's fault that you got hurt. If you didn't want something like that to happen, then you should have never let Raven leave!" she screamed as she closed her eyes.

Kazune showed a lopsided smile. "Hmph. How could I know that something like that would happen?" he said. "If you were listening carefully, I got beaten up when it was supposed to be Raven. That's the sole reason why I hate him. He had unfinished business yet he didn't do anything about it. But anyway…" He looked away. "I do realize my faults. Also… if I didn't let him leave… how could he have met you?"

Scarlet's eyes widened.

"How could you keep on living?" Kazune continued. "It's because of Raven that you remained alive, right?" He smiled again but without looking at Scarlet. "It's just too bad that the person who keeps you alive is… also the person who made you want to kill yourself."

Scarlet dropped Raven and held Kazune's collar with both of her hands. "Wh-what do you mean?" she shouted at him. "I haven't even met Raven before!" Raven changed back to his human form and stood beside Scarlet.

Kazune closed his eyes. "This is getting annoying." Suddenly they all heard the clicking of guns.

"Really now? Maybe you can tell us where Ren is… so she could do the explaining for all of us," Kid said, holding a pair of pistols, pointing them at Kazune while Crona stood behind him with Ragnarok in his weapon form.

"Crona and Kid sempai!" Scarlet gasped. Everybody else shouted their two friends' name in surprise but they didn't dare to make a step towards them yet. Kazune gazed up at Kid with wide eyes, couldn't believe that he and Crona are together again, safe, from the Book of Eibon.

"What the hell did that useless Gopher do?" he muttered in a small voice.

Kid chuckled. "He simply drank tea with poison." He smiled at Crona, knowing that it was Crona's idea… Crona's imagination that turned real. "The Book of Eibon is currently his happy place."

"Tch. How sarcastic you are."

"Oh, I'm not being sarcastic… not at all. I remember Gopher saying he wanted to be collected in The Book of Eibon… well... it turns out wishes do come true."

Kazune smirked. "So it really is true that you pay too much attention to details."

"Of course, as the god of order—"

Kazune averted his eyes away from Kid. "Just shut it. I don't want to hear anymore of your bullshit."

Kid had his usual annoyed look. He remained calm yet he still glared at Kazune. "Tsubaki, would you kindly chain up this insolent creature?"

Tsubaki flinched when he heard her name. "Hai!" she responded as she ran towards Kazune.

Black Star made a fist. "Hey, Kid! We missed you and Crona so it's nice that you both are back but that doesn't mean I'll give you the right to order my weapon around!" There went up a smoke out of his nostrils.

Kid sighed at Black Star as Tsubaki transformed her hair into chains and tightly wrapped Kazune with it, just like what she did to Mr. Sid a long time ago on their first extracurricular lesson.

Kim, Jacqueline, Liz and Patty hugged Crona as the others surrounded her and Kid.

Kazune gritted his teeth when he felt his body constrict. He squinted at Kid. "If you're looking for Ren, she's in the throne room."

"There's a throne room in here?" Black Star shouted as he skidded next to Kazune and held his shoulders. "Where? ! Where ? ! I hope there's a throne chair!"

Kazune narrowed his eyes, obviously annoyed. "Yesss… But apparently, Ren is sitting on it right now, waiting for you guys... especially Raven."

Raven glanced at Kazune. "I have a feeling we'll be facing an ambush," he said calmly yet firm.

"You and your assumptions. She's only after you… and Kid. Besides, you've already beaten up almost all the soldiers in this lair."

Kid still kept his eyes on Kazune but looked at him even more intense when he mentioned his name. "That's not much of a surprise," he said then turned around. "Is there anyone here who knows where the throne room is?"

Everybody looked clueless. Kid sighed a little. He faced Kazune again. "Well since nobody seems to know the way, I guess we will have to trust you."

"Why the heck should we after what he did to us?" Licorice shouted as she pointed at Kazune but looked at Kid.

"You're… Licorice, right?" Kazune said, giving Licorice a quizzical look.

Licorice folded her arms in front of her chest and looked down at Kazune who was tied up with chains. "A-huh. Why?" she responded coldly.

Kazune glared at her. "Nothing. I just expected you to be more less immature."

"Wh-what did you just say? !" Licorice said as she tried to walk towards Kazune but Raven held the back of her shirt and pulled her back.

"Let it go, Lico," Raven said in monotone.

"Shut up! Let go of me, emo guy!" Raven did let go of Licorice, finally, but it caused her to fall down, made her face the ground. "You're gonna pay for that," she muttered, her voice muffled by the floor.

Kazune chuckled. Raven stared at him in surprise and when Kazune saw this, he quickly looked away and remained silent.

"So what are we going to do with these soldiers?" Black Star asked Kid.

"Good question," Kid said then kneeled beside Kazune, rummaged his pocket and found two smoke bombs that can make people drowsy. "This should do the trick," he said, smiled and stood up. "Everyone from Shibusen should leave this room with Kazune before I throw these smoke bombs here."

"What about Soul and Maka sempai?" Scarlet asked.

"We'll split into two. Jacqueline, Kim, Kilik, Ox, Harvar, Hei, Dominique, Pot of Fire and Thunder… you go find and save Soul and Maka. The rest will come with me."

"Roger that," Dominique said and smirked.

.

.

.

(By Legacy23)

Soul opened his eyes slowly. His vision was blurry. While he tried regaining his consciousness, he knew he was kneeling and leaning on a wall. His arms were free and it was dangling on his sides. He felt his hands wrapped around something, something cold steel. 'What?' He thought, he stood up and walked forward, he then felt a tug on his arms and his hands falling behind and heard clinking. When he again walked a little more forward, his arms were nearly outstretched from the back. 'The hell?' His vision was almost clear and saw his arms and hands tied with chains, the chain was attached to the wall he just leaned on. His hands though were not tied together.

When he tried breaking free with swings and pulls, it was no use. His arms became sore and hot, he panted and sweat. The only free thing that was free was his legs and feet. Walking away wouldn't do any good because of these chains. He gave up and dropped to his knees. His vision became really clear now. His black jacket doesn't seem to be dirty, his orange shirt has no stain or drenched with anything. His pants and shoes were still on him. Everything seemed normal, except for the chains and the room he was staying in. The room was very dark. Where his body was, was where the light shone, a light bulb that is. There was a very small window that only a rat could fit in, it was slightly open. He saw the moon, it was smiling as usual. 'Evening already?' Soul thought.

"Ah… So you have awakened." A voice said. It was familiar. It was a voice of a teenage boy, a voice of his own age. "Who's there?" Soul said.

"Who's there?" The voice repeated what Soul have said . "Don't you remember? I am from shibusen too, you know?"

"Just show your face already!" Soul said again.

"Fine, fine… You win." After he said that, he came out from the shadows and stepped in the light, his features showed. Blue eyes, short black hair and his body were a bit muscled. He seems calm; the smile that appeared on his face looked more like a grin. His clothes were normal. White sleeveless shirt and black loose jeans with a black belt, he also wore black shoes that were formal. "Marc?" Soul said.

"Yes, that is me. A weapon with no partner." Marc answered.

"What did you do to me? Why am I tied up?" Soul Asked.

"Don't you know? Must I really answer? Instead, don't you want to see your lover?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Soul Questioned. Marc frowned.

"You know exactly what I am talking about! Don't be a mindless Shit!" Marc answered, almost shouting. He then grinned and chuckled. He went over to a wall and flicked a switch. The entire room was lightening; it was more like his room, an empty one. But something else caught his attention and nearly his life. He looked straight at a teenage girl, the same as his age. She too was standing. Her hands were tied together with a rope, but her arms were held up. Her left eye opened just a little to see Soul. She lifted her head weakly, to meet his eyes. She looked beaten and tired. "Soul?" She said in a whisper due to her throat that was sore.

"Maka!" Soul shouted, he was furious and stood up, he tried running towards her, but the chains won't budge, he pulled even harder, but it was no use. Maka was just a few yards away, if only he could touch her. Maka was not wearing her black Jacket; she was also not wearing her sleeveless yellow sweat shirt, she was barefoot and her hair was not in pigtails, it was loose. She still had her fighting gloves on, her white shirt that was buttoned was now unbuttoned and messy, five buttons were out of place and her chest showed a little. Her red miniskirt with black lines was a little down to her right, her waist showed because of that and a part of her stomach showed because of her loose white polo shirt. The rope that was attached to the ceiling kept her from falling.

"Marc! You bastard! God Damn you!" Soul shouted to Marc. "You will pay for this!" Soul did not stop struggling from his place. "Maka!" He said again. Maka did not respond, her dark forest green eyes and her face told everything. Her head fell and her eyes closed again. She was very tired and mostly hurt.

"Why? Why did you do this?" Soul asked angrily. Marc frowned again.

"You want to know why? I'll tell you why! It is because of you! You did this to me! You made me do these things!" He shouted.

"But why? Why her? If you wanted revenge you should have just taken me!" Soul said.

"You don't get it do you!" Marc talked back. "I did this to break your heart."

"What have I done?" Soul asked. Marc laughed.

"I guess you are a mindless shit." He said. Marc went a bit closer to Soul. "Let me tell you a story, behind the scenes." Marc rubbed his hands together and started. "I wanted Maka to be my partner, you see. But of course she told me that "you" will never be replaced for another partner. Well, if that doesn't work, I tried letting her love me. But that too never worked, it never worked when I first saw you! I can't even spend time with her, instead, you were the one having most of it. Whenever I talked to her, you always come in my way. You made me do this, I really didn't mean too." Marc said, he was angry, his eyes turned into a very dark navy blue filled with hate. He then patted his shirt and calmed himself. "Heh, then I realized. You loved her first."

"Shut up!" Soul said. Marc raised an eyebrow.

"What? You don't love her?" He asked. Soul did not respond but stared at him with piercing red flaming eyes. "Tell me Soul Eater Evans. Do you love her?" He asked again and poked him.

"I said shut the fuck up!" Soul shouted.

"What! Are you saying you don't care? Huh! What Soul? What's it going to be?" Marc shouted right back at him. Soul still did not respond, his blood was boiling, his hands clenched into a fist. "Tell me Soul!" He said out loud. He then pointed at Maka, making way so Soul could see her clearly. "What? Do you love her?" Marc continued. "What? TELL ME!"

"Yes! I love her!" Soul finally said out loud, Maka heard what he said and slightly lifted her head again, she looked at him. "I love her..." Soul then whispered, Maka and Marc still heard him though. "Are you happy now, you son of Bitch?" Soul asked. Marc chuckled and saw Maka's eyes looking at Soul.

"You know what I am about to do?" Marc asked. Soul did not say anything but looked up to him in question. "Remember when I said I am going to break your heart? Well, this is how." Marc went behind Maka's back. Soul watched him carefully. Marc put his face beside Maka's and wrapped his arms around her waist. Marc grinned.

"Wha- What are you doing you bastard?" Soul questioned. Marc chuckled again.

"I'm not the original Marc you knew. I'm different. As you have known, after the Kishins defeat, I was affected with the madness ever since. I learned how to control it, but then, I couldn't when you were the one who broke my heart." Marc said.

"Don't do this, we can help you!" Soul said.

"I don't need any damn help! Marc is gone! I am the new one! You know nothing of me! I am not Marc!" He talked back.

"Then who are you?" Soul asked.

"I already told you. I am the new one." Marc responded and then chuckled. "And don't worry. You won't remember anything after I kill you." He then used his right hand to tilt Maka'a chin so that she could slightly face him, he turned his head slowly, his cheek in contact with hers, his skin running smoothly. He smiled and let his lips flow through. Maka tried to pull away but she was too weak for his strong hand.

"No…" Maka mumbled.

"S-Stop that you piece of Shit!" Soul shouted. Soul was struggling from the chains again, putting all force, but then he stopped. He was utterly shocked when Marc pressed his lips hard on Maka's.

There was no use pulling away but to close her eyes tightly and hoping it would all go away. Marc switched his position of his lips on the other side and sucked hard, taking every taste. He switched again and sucked her upper lip and left it there for a while, he then switched at the corner of her lower lip without moving away his own and went back on the center. He felt the urge to put his whole mouth into it, his heart was shouting out for more and did what it was told and did put his whole mouth onto Maka's. It was fully on and his tongue started to flick out, licking her lips and the inside of her mouth. He opened his mouth even bigger, his own saliva falling on Maka's own mouth and lips. "Stop…" Maka said weakly under his lips, pulling away as hard as she could. Marc however did stop; he licked his lips, taking any leftover of Maka's sweetness in. "Delicious." He said. Soul was quiet. His eyes saw the whole thing. Maybe he should die. 'Wrong!' His inner voice said. 'Don't leave Maka you pansy! And don't be a mindless shit!' It continued. 'Maka…." His own self whispering in his mind. 'This is definitely not Marc.'

"I'm just getting started." Marc said.

.

.

.

(By Sitakazukin)

The empty stillness stretched on so long. Ren have curled up her legs and rested her forehead upon her knees as she sat on the gold throne chair with black cushions. Darkness enveloped her. Even the large windows were fully covered with long crimson curtains, preventing moonlight to enter the large room. With one hand, she held a silver gun, a gun that could kill both a human and a vampire.

Light from the hallway slowly brightened up a small portion of the room when Kid and Raven pushed open the large wooden doors. Still facing down, a grin flashed on Ren's face when she sensed that Raven and the others are near already. Kid, Crona, Scarlet were already holding their respective partners in weapon forms. Black Star remained weaponless since Tsubaki was still captivating Kazune with her chains yet he stood boldly; ready to fight with the use of his soul menace and madness release.

"That girl sitting on the throne…" Kazune whispered as he and the others stared at the dark figure from afar.

"That's Ren, right? !" Black Start shouted. "Listen up, Ren! I will never… ever… forgive you for stealing too much attention… for stealing my spotlight! But what I mostly cannot forgive is that you tricked us!"

Suddenly the chandeliers were turned on. Ren stood up, placed a hand on her hip, looked down and smiled. "It's not my fault that you were all so gullible." Her smile faded when she saw Crona with Kid and Kazune wrapped in chains. "How… how did this happen?"

"I'm sorry, mistress, but I have failed to do my duty," Kazune said ever so politely as he bowed his head. Ren's eyes that have widened slowly narrowed.

"I am disappointed of you, Kazune. You should have never allowed Crona to come out of the Book of Eibon until she attains the necessary amount of madness to make her the next kishin."

"Don't blame Kazune," Kid said as he stepped forward. "I was the one who forcefully took Crona out of that dreadful book."

"Kid…" Crona said softly behind him.

"Idiot," Kazune whispered, referring to Kid.

Ren stared at Kid for a long time, trying to see if he was lying or not. "Just to get out of topic, if I were you weapons, I'd change back to normal. It's not like we're going to kill each other here. I just want a good conversation." The meisters looked at each other and nodded. The weapons transformed back to their human forms. "Anyway, Kid, I don't know how the hell you got into the book but I wish you never did that." She stepped downwards on the small stair case from the stage. She hugged herself, closed her eyes as she continued to step forward, her heels killing the silence of the room. "It must have been very sad for you to go back to the place where you have embraced nihility." She opened her eyes and looked at Kid again. "Atleast you came back alive. Still, you didn't have to bring the makenshi with you. When would you realize that you and she are total opposites? That you and her are not meant for each other? She was born to become a kishin. You were born to become a shinigami. A shinigami is supposed to defeat a kishin along with the meisters and weapons. I just wanted to keep things in order, Kid, like you would want it. You're the god of order, right?" She turned around. "You should be able to understand. You, yourself was the one who said, 'I do not deny evil, nor do I believe that any human is completely free of malice. Everything must be in balance. As long as evil and good maintain equilibrium in this world there is no problem. Perfect balance is the key to everything.' If you exist as the next shinigami, and if Crona exists as the next kishin, there would be a balance. So howcome you don't want that to happen? Howcome you took her out of the Book of Eibon when she was undergoing the process of becoming the next Kishin?" She turned around to face Kid again. "Howcome you could love someone who's supposed to be your enemy?"

Crona and Kid flinched. Somehow, they both felt guilty after hearing Ren's words. Kid faced down and smiled. "I am going to be honest with you, Ren," he said. "I understood what you just said and see the good in it but… we believe that people and everything can change… that destiny is just a word… and that anyone can love whoever they want… despite of their differences. Crona here never wanted to be a kishin. All her life, she has been forced to do things according to other people's demand. And when she couldn't accomplish her goal, she would simply be locked in a dark room for many days without food and water… and inevitably bullied by an entity that comes out from her spine. When she was finally on our side, she began a new life. She rose from the ashes. She shared her melancholy with me. She stifled my indignation towards anything asymmetrical or unjust… because she herself was the embodiment of asymmetry and imperfection. She's an imperfect being… but there are many reasons to love her. She made me realize that imperfection can be beautiful too. How do you think it's possible for someone who went through a lot of tragedy could still be so humble, so shy, selfish, soft and caring? If I were that person, I probably could have cracked up and become the ultimate evil. So that's why… I realized Crona was just an innocent girl, unintentionally doing crimes for the sake of being obedient and loyal to her creator. She only wanted a peaceful life… and she had it when she was on our side already. She is… how can I say this?" He smiled. "She's an angel disguised as a demon."

A tear escaped Crona's eye.

"Ren," Kid stared at her. "Even without a kishin, there's still a huge amount of cruelty in this world. That's sufficient to keep things in balance. And I am more than willing to lead the institution that will go against the evilness, to promote peace. For your information, it had been decided already that Crona is one of the students in Shibusen. If she would go and become the next kishin, that would be another betrayal. She betrayed us numerous times before but that was only because she was still under the manipulation of Medusa. She is the one who chose to be a student in Shibusen, she's the one who gave up on becoming the next kishin, and she's the one who killed her own mother who neglected her… made her suffer for more than fifteen years. So, Ren, you have no right to decide for Crona's future."

Ren started clapping. "Bravo, Kid! Bravo! I am at awe," she said without faking. "This is why I love you! You stay strong to your beliefs, stay loyal to the ones you love and most importantly… you stay competent for the position of being the next shinigami."

Everyone was shocked at Kid's words and Ren's sudden mood.

Ren started walking back towards the throne chair. "I never really expected you to say such things, Kid. But you made your point and I respect it." She sat down on the chair, crouched a little, held her knees and sighed. "I only wanted your wish to come true. You wanted the world to be balanced, right? I already gave you and Crona a reason to hate each other but because you love her so much, you were still persistent in retaining her. I admire such passion but in the same time, I am pained that it isn't for me."

"But why, Ayame… why are you so desperate to have Kid?" Tsubaki asked hesitantly.

Ren raised her head and looked at Tsubaki. "Oh, Tsubaki, I almost forgot that you're there," she said. "I'd answer that question but it's still not the right time." She smiled. "By the way, you do know why my name isn't Ren anymore, right?" Tsubaki could only look at Raven, in search of answer. Ren chuckled. "So I guess it's the only secret that Raven didn't tell you about. Well… since I became a different person… more like a different creature… I decided to change my name. It was essential for me to forget about my past… because if not, I wouldn't get to do what I was forced to do… to kill our relatives." She stared at Tsubaki solemnly. Tsubaki covered her mouth and gasped. "Just like a zombie that crawls out of the land… the past makes a way to the surface… to your current thoughts. It eats you up, knowing the things that happened before. I thought… maybe… just maybe… if I changed my name, it would be a good start for me to be able to forget about the past that was killing me. It's the same with Raven." She and the others looked at Raven. "He desperately wanted to forget the past like me when we were apart. We both have the same reason. If you became a vampire, you would understand. You will have to accept that you're no longer human… that you cannot do the things that normal humans do anymore. It might sound cool to some people but to us… it's like a living hell." She covered her face with her palm then stood up once again but this time she was holding the silver gun. "Don't worry, guys, this gun is no match for all of you. I just wanted someone to realize something." She walked towards the window and pushed away the long red curtain. Morning sunlight made her face glisten. "Speaking of secret and Raven. I'm quite disappointed that Raven told you about my secret." She faced them all and looked at Raven. "Raven, you do know the consequence for doing that, don't you?" Silence was the only response. "Stoic as always, huh?"

"Despite of the consequence, I told them what I needed to tell them, not for the sake of embarrassing you or anything," Raven finally said. "If I didn't tell them, they won't understand why you're like this."

Ren_ stood_ next to Raven and looked at him in the eyes. "I tried so hard to bury the past yet you brought it up and worse… mentioned it to many people. I consider it rude no matter how you think it's not. But I guess…" She wrapped her arms around Raven. "You only cared for your big sister." Everyone's eyes widened as Ren closed her eyes and smiled.

"Let me go."

Ren did. Then she stepped backwards.

"I forgot… I shouldn't consider you as my little brother anymore. My own brother betrayed me… the brother I risked my life for. How did it come to this?" She looked at Scarlet. "If it wasn't because of you, Vander, my brother would have stayed by my side." Then she looked at Crona. "And if it wasn't because of you, Makenshi, Kid would have been mine. This is why I'm a misogynist sometimes even though I, myself, am a girl." she turned around. "Girls are bitches who are desperate to take what they want." Her shoulders twitched as she chuckled. "But let me ask you this, Vander. Do you know exactly what happened to your parents?" In the corner of her eyes, she saw Scarlet flinch.

"Wh-what do you know about them?"

Ren faced Scarlet. "I'll get to the point. Your parents died in a car accident. The cause is still unknown but only a few people know the real cause and I'm actually one of those people."

"Tell me. Please tell me what you know!"

"Why don't you ask Raven yourself? He's also one of the people who know. In fact, he witnessed what happened. You guys were almost always together yet you haven't figured it out yet?" She laughed.

"I don't… want to mistrust my partner."

"Well, that's stupid of you. You should consider that friends can be enemies too." Ren closed her eyes and sighed again.

Scarlet faced Raven. "Raven… what happened?"

"I doubt that Raven will tell you," Ren interrupted. "So let me do the honors."

Scarlet glared at Ren. "But you said I should ask him."

"That was only a suggestion." Ren smiled. "Anyway… Scarlet Vander, you were grief stricken when your parents died it almost made you want to kill yourself already. This wouldn't happen if… if Raven did not cross the street, your parents wouldn't have crashed. If Raven did not have the hunger for blood, your parents could have stayed alive. Basically, it was Raven who killed your parents!"

Scarlet's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't believe what she just heard.

"You thought Raven is your savior for giving you a reason to live more but he's actually also the person that caused the accident… the one that made you suicidal!" She chuckled. "How ironic."

"Raven…" Scarlet, Crona and Tsubaki whispered as they faced Raven. Raven just stared at the ground, face deadpan.

"How do you feel now after knowing the truth? Your purpose for staying alive is to find the person who killed your parents, right? You wanted to avenge your parents. You wanted to kill the person who killed your parents." She slightly grinned then she threw the silver gun to the floor near Scarlet. She turned around. "If I were you, I'd kill that person in front of you." She started walking back towards the throne chair and soon she was sitting on it again. She watched Scarlet pick up the gun. Raven didn't move at all. He just stood there. He just kept staring on the ground like he used to minutes ago. It was as if he didn't want to do anything anymore.

"Master, don't!" Licorice shouted but Scarlet just ignored her. Ragnarok placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a sign that she shouldn't interrupt.

"Don't do it, Scarlet," Kid advised calmly from afar. "If you shoot, you will be no different from the person who killed your parents."

Scarlet's hands were shaking as she held the gun. "Raven… I… I can't believe you did that. I… trusted you more than anyone. Why must... why must you be the person who killed my parents? You were the one who motivated me to find the killer. Yet… it was you all along!" A tear ran down Scarlet's face as she gritted her teeth.

Ren frowned, looking bored already. "Took you long enough," she said nonchalantly as she rested her head on her fist. Her elbow was on the handler of the chair and her other hand was on her lap.

"I only wanted to give you a reason to keep on living," Raven said. He still kept facing down. "I never thought this day would come so early." He smiled. "But I have always anticipated this." He raised his head and glanced at Scarlet. "I prepared myself for this day." He held the muzzle of the gun that was in Scarlet's hand and made it face his chest, exactly where his heart is. He placed his thumb against Scarlet's index finger that was on the trigger of the gun. Scarlet gasped.

"Raven!" Licorice shouted.


	37. Twas a Heart Without a Beat

**Chapter 37: Heart Without a Beat**

(By Legacy23)

The hande Marc used to hold Maka's chin trailed down to her neck, after that her chest then to her stomach, until it reached to Maka's miniskirt hem line. He then touched her knee.

"No, no, NO!" Soul shouted. "You Fucking Bastard! I'll kill you! I will kill you!"

"Just shut it." Marc responded and his hand began to go up her knee, feeling the skin as it went up. Maka gasped a little, she tried moving out, but again. Her strength was gone. Marc's hand disappeared into the miniskirt. "Ah… That's very nice." He said, his other hand, which was on Maka's waist started to rub her shirt sideways, slightly back and forth. His hand was screaming for more, he could still feel her skin under the thin cloth. Soul was swearing and cursing at Marc.

"When I get out of this, I promise you that I will be the one to kill you with my own bare hands!" Soul said. Marc ignored him and felt Maka's underwear. His arm lifted half of Maka's miniskirt and Soul could see that he was reaching for the Sem line. Soul wanted to look away, but he couldn't, his eyes turned deep in red. He struggled from the chains again and tried moving forward. He felt the pain on his arms and the heat on his wrists, but that didn't matter, the only thing that matter was saving Maka from that damn bastard.

"Let go of her!" Soul growled, turning his wrist from the chains. Marc ignored him again. His fingers started to sink halfway from the Sem-line and felt Maka twitch. He stopped between his wrists and started feeling, left to right. Marc smiled.

"Please… S-Stop…" Maka said again and gasped. Soul's eyes widened and his teeth were clenched tightly.

"Whoever you are! Let go of her you Son of a Bitch!" Soul yelled out, but that made Marc's hand go in deeper. "You Fuck!"

"No…" Maka said, her eyes filling with tears. Marc's hand was already at the center and slowly pushed his finger in. "Ah...!" Maka gasped.

"Fuck you!" Soul shouted at Marc. His wrists were already burning. Marc chuckled, however, he did stop, but he did not stop his progression. He slowly lifted his hand out but did not let go.

"Is your heart already broken Soul?" Marc asked and laughed.

"Bastard!" Soul answered with a shout.

.

.

.

(By Sitakazukin)

_Bang!_

The sound of gunshot echoed throughout the huge throne room. Droplets of blood fell to the floor.

"Ren!" Raven heard Kazune shout in despair. He opened his eyes and they widened when he saw Ren gripped the center of her chest. Her pupils reduced. She slouched then she gradually fell to the floor. Her other hand landed on the small puddles of her own blood. She started to choke blood while Scarlet fell to her knees and let go of the gun. Raven became speechless. His eyes kept shaking.

"No way," he thought. "Scarlet shot Ren instead of me. This… this is not supposed to happen." His gaze fell on Scarlet who was now on the floor, facing down and covering her face. He stared at her in shock. He couldn't believe what just happened. He never expected Scarlet to shoot Ren. But he was more surprised that it was a direct and perfect hit.

"Ren!" Kazune shouted again as he struggled under the chains. "Unwrap me, Nakatsukasa!" she shouted at Tsubaki. Ren is going to die!"

Tsubaki wasn't sure what to do. She felt sorry for Kazune. She knew how much he cares for him. She did want to let go of Kazune but she was afraid that he would do something dangerous, especially now that the one he loves is harmed. She bowed her head. "I'm sorry but I can't."

Kazune grunted. Licorice ran towards Raven and hugged him from the back.

"Master Scarlet, please do not harm Raven," she pleaded as she shut her eyes, squeezing out the tears, pushing her head against Raven's back. "He didn't do it on purpose! Madness… madness got the better of him! Raven would never kill people intentionally! His vampire side craved for blood. He tried to suppress the desire but when he smelled the blood of your parents, he became unconscious. When you were in his position, you would probably do the same!"

"Li… co," Scarlet whispered as she slowly took off her hand from her face. Crona kneeled beside Scarlet and placed a hand on her shoulder. Scarlet quickly shoved away Crona's hand but when she saw that it was Crona, her eyes widened. They both looked at each other in shock. Crona held her hand.

"I'm… I'm sorry!" Scarlet shut her eyes, stood up and ran away from the room.

"Come back here, Vander!" Kazune shouted. "You can't just get away from what you did!"

Black Star gave out a hand to the pinkette. Crona held Black Star's hand and he pulled her up. She was back to her feet. "Thank you," Crona uttered. They both glanced at Ren who was still choking blood from afar. Then they saw Kid.

.

.

.

(By Legacy23)

"I am starting to enjoy this." Marc said. "I will continue until you wish you were never even born." He then laughed again. He used both of his hands to unbutton Maka's shirt, bottom till the top. He did it slowly, his own body sticking up to hers. His face went to Maka's again and closed his eyes. "Your skin is very soft and lovely Maka. If only you were mine." He said behind her ear and licked the side of her neck till her jaw, until to the side of her eye. Her skin showed even more now. Soul was still swearing and struggling. 'I promise you Maka. I will save you! I will never leave you behind!' He thought. 'Think of a way out! Think!' Maka's shirt was already unbuttoned. Marc put his hands on her stomach; he then moved both of them without letting go of his hands at her back and back to her stomach again. He continued this until he was satisfied with her skin, her shirt lifted up every time his hands went at the back. He then let his hands explore her body. Marc grinned even bigger. He then trailed his hands up, feeling her solar plexus then reaching to her breast. Maka's tears fell on her cheek.

"Don't cry. Soul will be dead soon." Marc said and licked her cheek that was wet. "Salty."

"Maka!" Soul said.

"Soul." Maka responded weakly, trying to get away from Marc's tongue.

"We will get out of this. I promise!" Soul said. Marc stopped licking and stopped touching. He grinned. He put his hands on both of Maka's upper arm.

"Promise, huh?" Marc said. "Hm… I wonder how mad you are going to be when I hurt her." He then smirked.

"Don't you even dare harm her!" Soul yelled.

"Oh, but I am…" He then stretched his right arm out, a blade started to form out of his wrist. "I really wonder."

"Damn you!" Soul shouted. Marc's blade started to get close to Maka's cheek bone. The tip of his blade touched her skin. Soul's teeth showed, his bones from his neck was showing and it also showed that he was really angry and trying very hard to get out of the chains.

"Let me start with a small scratch." Marc said. His blade went in Maka's skin, going deep little by little. Maka tried to hold in her painful gasps in her throat, but failed. Her teeth clenched and closed her one eye that was next to the blade. Her hands were shaking. Blood was leaking out and it fell on Marc's blade.

"You Fucking Bastard! God Damn you! Fuck! Fuck!" Soul shouted even louder and struggled even harder, his eyes glowed even redder and the chains sounded like it was going to get ripped off. "Gaahhh!" He screamed. His knuckles turned bright red, his nails digging deeper into his skin, his mind repeating, 'Shit! Shit! Shit!'. Maka already had a wound on her cheek and it was a straight and deep scratch, blood was flowing through.

"Now I know." Marc said and licked the blood from his blade. "Even her blood is tasty. Now, let's try the others. Shall we?" His blade now pointed at Maka's waist. He then chuckled. "Starting from the top." Marc said. He then used the tip of his blade to dig in. Maka's painful gasp became louder. The tip of his blade disappeared into her skin and blood started to gush out a bit. When it got even deeper, Maka couldn't contain it anymore and yelled out a painful scream. When Marc started to let his blade go down, he did it slowly, making another big painful cut. Maka's tears flowed down her cheeks even more, her scream gotten even louder each time the blade moved.

"Maka!" Soul shouted. "No! No!" His blood was already boiling even more. He felt Madness, he did not feel pain from his wrist, but saw his own blood coming out of the chains, and they were hot too. "You!" Soul said. "Stop it!" Marc ignored and continued to move the blade down. Maka's eyes were shut tightly, she couldn't hold it, she just couldn't. This time, Soul can tell how painful it was by her scream, it told every detail, her face told him to let it stop. He can also feel her own Soul tremble. Soul growled. The chains were having a crack, he felt his arm transforming into a scythe. However it did transform into a blade, making his hand brake free, his anger made the blade hard and sharp. Marc stopped. His eyes widened in shock. "What?"

Soul quickly used his blade to break his other hand free and started to move towards Marc and Maka. Marc quickly cut the rope on where Maka's hands were tied and wrapped his arm around her and pointed his blade at her neck and nervously moved backwards with her. "Stay away Evans! Don't let me kill her!"Marc warned. Soul turned his blade back into his normal form and stood his ground.

"Just let her go, Marc. You are defeated. Just admit it." Soul said calmly.

"Shut up!" Marc shouted while he moved towards the door. Maka still wasn't strong enough to fight back. Her hands tried to pull Marc's arm away, trying not to trip while she was forced to walk in front of him.

.

.

.

(By Sitakazukin)

Ren saw someone's shadow on the floor and heard the tapping of black shoes. She slowly raised her head. Her vision was vague already but she was still able to see who it was that was standing in front of her in black clothes. Kid stared down at her with serious eyes, those piercing golden eyes of his. "Kid!" Ren managed to say his name louder as held his pants, using the strength left in her. He stared into his eyes as she frowned. "Save me… save me, Kid."

Kid's eyes narrowed. "Ren, I thought you were our friend."

"I was, Kid!" She gritted her teeth as she felt the pain in her worsen. She closed her eyes and pushed her forehead against Kid's leg. "I was… but I had to do what I… needed to do." She choked blood again. Kid remained emotionless. "Noah and I had a deal… a deal is a deal. A promise… is a promise." She coughed a bit. "If… if we didn't have that deal, I… would have never met you." She reached for Kid's hand, held it and placed it on her chest where her heart is.

"Ugh," Kid uttered as his eyes widened.

Ren showed him a melancholic smile. "Feel this?" she whispered. Her eyes were half-lidded and there were tears in the corners. "It's… beating, right? Are you… surprised?" She continued to smile despite of the excruciating physical pain in her. "You should be. Thanks to you, it's no longer a heart without a beat." She paused for a while. She slowly faced down. "I wanted your blood, Kid. But that… that wasn't the only thing I wanted. I wanted love from my savior." Her eyes closed and she finally fainted on Kid's foot. The amount of blood underneath her body increased. Kid stared at her for a while, his eyes still widened.

"Ren! Damnit!" Kazune shouted in rage.

"_I wanted love from my savior."_ The words reverberated in Kid's mind. He dazed off momentarily. Soon Spirit and Marie passed him. They knelt down on the floor and picked up Ren. Kid was snapped back from his reverie. "Stein hakase! Marie sensei!" he said in surprise.

"We'll take care of her," Stein said and smiled at Kid. He carried Ren in bridal style.

"This makes me nostalgic!" Marie said as she put her hands together. "I remember you carrying unconscious little Raven full of blood like that before."

Stein sweatdropped as he started walking. "Marie, is it really the right time to reminisce?" Marie followed him but she stopped and turned around to face Kid. "We're sorry for being late, Kid! But rest assured, things are going to be fine now. Thank you for staying strong." She smiled, turned around and continued to follow Stein.

"They're going to take Kazune and Ren to Shibusen's airship," Crona said. She was already standing beside Kid. Kid didn't look at her. He and Crona just kept watching Stein and Marie as they left the room. "Tsubaki and Black Star are going after Soul and Maka." Kid smiled then he finally looked at Crona. The morning sunlight from the window fell on them. Crona gave Kid an innocent confused look. She wondered why he was smiling. "Wh-why are you smiling? Did Ren say something to you?"

"Nothing," Kid replied, "nothing important for you to know at least." He gently cupped her face and gently pressed her lips against hers." Crona closed her eyes and smiled. They pulled away from each other a little. "Whatever she says… no, whatever anyone says… I will still love the Crona that I know… and only her." The smile on his face faded and soon Crona's too. "Wait. Didn't you just said Tsubaki and Black Star are going after Soul and Maka?"

"I did," Crona retorted.

"Kilik and the others are the ones are who supposed to do that."

They gawked at each other then they both started to chuckle.

.

.

.

(By Legacy23)

Marc reached the door and said. "I'm winning! So beat it!" Suddenly, the door burst into pieces of wood and someone's hand was seen in a fist. Marc was hit and elbowed.

"BlackStar Big Wave!" The voice said and turned his fist. Marc was then pushed forward; Maka was released and fell to the floor. Marc on the other hand was pushed ahead of her and hit the ground, he then coughed out blood. The door fell into pieces and BlackStar appeared. "The Great BlackStar is here to save you!" He said and Tsubaki was beside him, she ran to help Maka. Marc stood up.

"I will not be defeated easily!" He said. "Hey Soul! Let's duel to death!"

"Duel accepted." Soul responded. Marc grinned and ran towards him and hit him hard with his left. Soul did not see it coming and he was pushed back against the wall, but he regained his footing and conscious quick and saw Marc's blade coming, he ducked and the blade hit the wall. Soul quickly transformed his armed into a blade and swings it to Marc. He quickly dodged but had a slit with a little scratch and his shirt was torn. "Fuck." He swore. He was distracted and it was Soul's turn to hit him with his left hand, he punched him on the solar plexus, and then gave a straight punch on the face, he was then flying out of the door. BlackStar quickly moved out of the way. "Hey!" He said.

"Just get out of the way next time, moron!" Soul said and ran outside. "Tsubaki! Take care of Maka!" He called out.

"Right!" She answered, she then removed the rope that was tied onto Maka's wrists and started to heal her wounds, she wiped the blood away and used some of her cloth to wrap her waist, she left her shirt open just in case.

Marc got up and was hit with Soul's punch on the face again; he swung his blade hoping to hit him. It was immediately blocked by Souls scythe; Soul then kicked him on the stomach. Marc stumbled backwards and Soul jumped towards him. Marc looked up and saw Soul coming. He moved out to the right, making Soul hit the ground with a miss. He then swung his own blade, Soul was lucky to dodge out on time. Soul is within a distance of Marc, they both looked at each other in the eye.

"So, Soul… How does it feel to be heartbroken? How does it feel when someone's love got hurt?" Marc asked, smiling evilly. Soul did not respond. Marc laughed. "It's painful isn't it? Heh… That's how I felt!" Marc then ran full tilt at Soul. Soul was calm, he waited. Marc swung his blade and it was easily blocked again, Soul punched him lightly and did it the second time harder. Marc fell on his knees and hands, blood appearing at the corner of his mouth. Soul turned his scythe back to its normal form again.

"I won't kill you, I know the old Marc is still in you. We can help get that madness out." Soul said.

"Fuck off Soul. I will kill you, Marc will never come back! Never! The only way he is coming back is to kill me dead!" Marc talked back and quickly jumped out of his place and slashed him on the waist. "Gah!" Soul gasped, luckily he went out of the way and Marc lost his footing. He then grabbed him on the shirt collar and stabbed him with his blade. Marc coughed out blood. His eyes had no mood, no light, and no life. Soul removed his blade and let go of his shirt, he fell to the ground, bleeding. He then murmured. "If you love somebody, never give up winning their heart. But then, I failed and I have figured out that we must let them go and leave them to their rightful lover." He then turned his head to Soul. "You're lucky. Hehe..." After his words were out, his breathing stopped and his body lay there lifeless. Soul stared at a moment and then snapped out of it. BlackStar laid a hand on Soul's shoulder.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah." Soul responded. 'It's all over, Maka's safe.' He thought, then "Maka." He said and ran back to the room. When he reached there. Tsubaki was done healing Maka's wounds. He kneeled down beside her.

"She will be fine. Don't worry." Tsubaki said and stood up. "BlackStar and I are going to report to shibusen."

"Wait. How did you know we were here?" Soul asked.

"You and Maka were missing for a long time, so me and Blackstar started to search. BlackStar used his senses; he then heard Maka and you screaming." She responded. "I'll be going now, go home and take a rest. I'll come over when Lord Death gives any news."

"Thanks, Tsubaki."

"You're welcome, Soul." Tsubaki then ran out of the door, BlackStar lead the way. When they were out of sight. Soul looked at Maka.

"I'm so sorry Maka." Soul said. "This is not cool". He sighed.

"Soul?" Maka whispered. She tried to sit up and Soul helped her.

"Maka, you should rest." Soul said. Maka did not say anything but hugged him tightly. Soul did not expect this but he hugged her back and smiled.

"I- I love you… Maka, F-For real..." He said and blushed. They both pulled back, but neither of them let go. Maka smiled.

"I love you too, Soul." Maka replied. Soul smiled too, he then leaned down and kissed her, his heart was beating fast when Maka kissed him back, but soon calmed down and he enjoyed the moment of their first kiss.

You are my fruit

You let our friendship have roots

You supported me with your stems

You turned me fresh instead of a rotten flesh.

You are my sun

You are my moon

You are the one that made my day and night

You're happiness enlightens me

You're sadness darkens me.

You are my friend

You are the best one, the greatest one

I cannot imagine a life without you.

You're kiss was passionate and compassionate.

You're kiss was soothing and relaxing.

I trust in you, I believe in you.

For that I must say after all these years

That I love you.


	38. Raven Hiro Wants Punishment

**Chapter 38: Punishment**

(By Sitakazukin)

The old narrow asphalt street outside the supposed to be impenetrable lair already had these cracks yet they weren't that noticeable since the street glistened with snow. The sky was already seamless blue and was shrouded with dirty cumulus clouds. Raven stepped out of the huge metal doors that Stein and Spirit broke just to be able to get in. Black gloves wrapped his hands and he buried them in his dark blue navy jeans. The black leather jacket he was wearing made him look even paler than he really is. From the throne room in the lair, he kept his head low and mouth shut. He let the cold wind slap his face and mess up his hair a little. He still couldn't get over with happened back in the lair. Back there, he thought when Scarlet held the silver pistol with both of her hands she would aim at him. He have already closed his eyes, anticipated the pain then he finally heard the gun shot. He waited for the pain, he waited for the moment he would feel suffocated, fall to the floor to his own blood that was mixed with the people he have killed and never wake up again. But to his astonishment, he felt no pain at all for the following seconds after the loud gun shot.

Ambivalence stroked. He felt disappointed, relieved and pained to see Ren fall to the floor. No doubt it was her who got shot. He didn't really know why he felt his heart sank when it happened. Ren and he were already enemies yet he was still his sister, his big sister whose name was his first word, the big sister who played him while their parents were still at their works, the big sister who he was with under the same sheets, sang his favorite songs in a soft voice until he fell asleep, who protected him from other boys who picked on him at school, who wrapped her arms around him whenever he cried for some reason while telling him that things will be alright, who enjoyed watching him drink milk, chuckle when she sees milk surplus on his face and the one who understood him the most. It always hurt him whenever he thinks about what Ren was to him before and what she became. The image of her tossing the gun to Scarlet kept haunting his mind. Even though they were already not in the same side anymore, he expected her to still somehow care for her. But after seeing what she did, he just began to accept that Ren was really no longer the same person he loved before.

He tried to stop thinking that he has seen the dark stain in the bottom of Ren's vest when Professor Stein passed him or the tiny drops of blood that fell from Ren's chest and stained the snow black. He always loved winter. He savored the sound that his shoes produce whenever he steps on snow, the cold temperature that encompasses him and the little fog he intentionally makes whenever he exhales. But he had mixed feelings with winter. He also detested it. The most tragic things that happened in his life happened during winter –the night when he was brought to a new home covered in other people's blood, the death of his and his meister's parents. Ever since his parents died, it seemed that he already forgot how to smile happily but then Scarlet came to his life who actually had the same experience as him but if it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have to suffer from her loss. His reason for following Licorice' order was just to kill time. He knew he'd die soon anyway. But he was wrong. Things didn't go as he expected, not at all. He accepted the challenge knowing that he had no other choice. He accepted it with confidence, looking forward to things being more exciting already –for he has been bored for the past weeks. He thought he could just play around for a while but that was only until he finally met the person he had to deal with, the person whom he inspired to keep on living, the girl whose parents he killed. It wasn't easy for him to move forward when he, himself, felt like he wasn't even moving forward from the past and breaking free from demons that he faces. Still, he knew he had to say something to make her trust him, to make her trust that he'll be his loyal weapon. Every second it made him feel guilty whenever he talked to this girl, this beautiful, pure girl he have stained. He did give her a reason to keep on living, but the reason was to kill the killer(s) of his parents. He made her become friends with the murderer. Those two sole reasons were sufficient to say that he have stained her, filled her more darkness than she already had. Every second it made him guilty whenever she talked to him kindly, faced him with her genuine smile and sparkling hazel eyes, those eyes that hid the sadness.

"Why, Lico?" He whispered as he looked up at the sky and ignored the chattering voices and roaring of engine from afar. He made sure he was far from the others, far enough for them not to notice him. He surrounded himself with huge dark pine trees, spread his hand in front of him and watched as a snowflake on it. "Why did you have to let me meet the person who was at the last of the list of people I want to meet? Why did you have to bring myself to her and remind me of my past and made me feel worse? Make _things _worse?" He felt his body weakened, fell to his knees, held the snow and faced the ground. His bangs dangled. "I was actually having a peaceful life already with my new parents, a new life with just me, my new optimistic mom and sadistic dad. I was finding Ren with the help of Kazune so we can be reunited. I wanted to find a cure for both of us." His body shivered, his eyes narrowed and tears started to fall on the snow. "I just wanted to live a normal… happy life." He sat properly, drew his knees to his chest and rested his head on them. "But life isn't just fair."

"I also wanted that," said a familiar soft voice. He felt a warm body behind him and it rested on his back. He quickly looked up as his eyes widened. He didn't dare to look back. He already knew who it was yet he just stayed there, felt frozen like ice and kept quiet. He wanted to be alone to clear his mind. He wanted to say things to himself that other people wouldn't hear. Of all the people who could have overheard, why, he thought, why must it have been _her_? "I also wanted to live a normal, happy life, Raven," Scarlet said who was resting her back against Raven's, gripping her upper arms and watching the beautiful scene of the snow falling with the light blue sky behind them. "But it turns out there really are just some things that aren't free in this world. But you know what my favorite free thing in this world is?"

There were a few moments of silence and the cold wind passed them. Raven finally spoke in a small, calm and low voice. Scarlet have waited patiently. She knew it would be hard for Raven to talk to her now.

"No," said Raven. His eyes dropped to snowy ground again. "What?"

Scarlet smiled. "It must probably be the freedom of being friends with anyone. I always enjoy being friends with any kind of people, even my enemies. So I'm quite… used to being betrayed and lied to. Even though we were rich, there were still people who disrespected me, who looked down on me. But you… you actually killed my parents." Raven shut his mouth tight and rested his forehead on his knees again as he felt the same burning sensation in him whenever he felt bad about something or someone. "You killed my parents yet you became my friend. I've been trying to understand it. Licorice confessed to me that she ordered you to carry out her plan… to save me, to become my weapon. I know you followed just so she won't kill you but I also have the feeling that… that that's not the only reason that you also did it so you can pay back for what you did. That alone makes me think I shouldn't get mad at you."

Raven gritted his teeth, grunted, picked up a pile of snow from the ground, stood abruptly, turned around to face Scarlet and hit her with the snowball he held. It hit Scarlet's back and it made her flinch. "Hit me back!" he snapped. "Hit me back as many as you can, as hard as you can! Hit me until I fall to the ground! Kick me, beat me up until I bleed and choke blood the way my sister did!" Scarlet slowly, calmly, stood up and faced Raven with a solemn face. "Do it until I breathe no more!"

Scarlet saw the pleading look in Raven's eyes. She saw the tears. She has never seen him so depressed and desperate before, it scared her yet she tried to retain her composure. The way he shouted at her almost made her shriek. It pierced her ears. It made the crows flutter away. They were a good three meters away from each other yet she could hear him panting from exaggeration. In my mind, Scarlet remembered the quote. "The rain falls because the sky can no longer handle its weight," she suddenly said. "Just like the tears fall because the heart can no longer handle the pain." She showed her usual warm smile. "You tell me to harm you yet you're crying while doing it. If you're trying to a masochist, Raven, you're failing. You should atleast not cry while telling me to beat the crap out of you." She picked up a pile of snow and turned it into a snow ball, tossed it up and down as she shot back her gaze at Raven. She then hit her cheek with the snow ball she made. A normal grinned on her face. "This is a masochist." She dusted off the debris of the snow ball on her cheek and walked forward to Raven. "If you want me to harm you, you will have to do better than to kill my parents."

"You're… you're crazy," Raven said weakly, felt like walking backward but he couldn't. There was already a tall pine tree behind him. "Your parents are the most important people to you, right?"

"They were. Weren't your parents the most important people to you?"

"Well… yeah." He averted his eyes away from her.

"So then we're really the same. We both loved our parents and died. It's alright, Raven. Because of that, I was able to understand how you feel. Maybe I haven't understood the vampire part but I did understood how you feel after your parents' death. Things after that seemed to change rapidly, huh? It was like the end of the world to you. I felt the same." She smiled again as she looked down at Raven's black rubber shoes. "This doesn't mean I thank you for killing them though. I only want to tell you that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. I know you are. Hey, I'm not… mad at you. I can never get mad at Raven. You're like the big brother that I didn't have my shadow… the one that was around me during happy times… the one that disappeared yet blended in the dark that surrounded me." She looked at Raven into his dark green eyes that showed that he was trying to understand what she was saying. "Raven… my heart was entwined by your mystery. I always wanted to understand you." She frowned, looked like a child who was about to cry. But before a tear could even drop, Raven held her back and pulled her into a tight hug, closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder.

Wide-eyed, Scarlet's gasp was muffled by Raven's chest. The sudden action caused her heart beat fast. She felt like it was going to implode. She her jacket, felt warm in his embrace. Snow kept falling on them. She felt him tug on her red-orange hair and could her him breathe calmly. The moment reminded her of the first time he bit her at Hook Cemetery, how painful it was, how overwhelming and shocking. She anticipated for the pain, for the fangs to suck into her neck but no. A minute passed and they just stayed like that. It was as if he just wanted to hold her and never let her go. Questions raised in her mind. "Is he trying to tell me something? Is he going to bite me?" Her eyes closed. "Is he… going to say goodbye?"

"Raven, you're not going to say goodbye, are you?" Scarlet finally spoke, breaking the eerie silence between them. Raven did not move but held her close even more.

"I would if you want me to," he said. "I'm sorry, Scarlet." Scarlet could hear the pain in his voice. "I'm sorry for everything I did to you. I know… I know you're just trying to cover up the pain with that… sweet… smile of yours. Why… why can't you just be mad at me? Why can't you hurt me? I've hurt you a lot. Not just you but also the others. Sometimes I just want someone to punish me. So Scarlet, do what you want with me now." He shut his eyes more tightly. "Kill me with your bare hands in any method. I know… deep down in your heart… you want to do it. If not, atleast harm me… so I can finally sleep at night. So I can finally have a reason to leave you."

Scarlet smiled, pushed Raven against the tree and held the collar of his jacket. Raven's eyes widened in shock. "You think I'm just going to let you go after what you did?" She grinned. "You think I'm that nice? Raven, I may be kind but I'm not _that _kind. We have a contract, don't we? As long as Licorice is there, you are my weapon, my partner. Got that?" She glared at him and almost held his neck.

A smile slowly formed on Raven's face. "Even if not Licorice is there, I'd still be your weapon."

"Did I just here my name?" Licorice said as she walked towards the two.

Raven and Scarlet gazed at her in surprise.

"Li-Lico! What are you doing here?" Scarlet said, still holding Raven's collar, making Raven raise his head but look down.

"The question is… what are you _two _doing here?" She turned around, closed her eyes and smiled. "Seriously, guys, if you want to do something like those boyfriends and girlfriends do, maybe you should try a different place where you can be sure that no one can really see you."

Raven and Scarlet had the weird look in their face, a mixture of disgust and disbelief, almost the look formed whenever Excalibur is around.

"Why the hell would we do that, stupid bear? !" Raven shouted as he made a fist as Scarlet let her go.

"Y-yeah," Scarlet added in a hesitant voice. "Plus we're not even close to being a boyfriend and girlfriend."

Licorice grinned then faced them again. "Whatever, you say, master. By the way, I came here to tell you guys that we'll soon be leaving already!"

"Oh, alright. We'll be there in a sec." She smiled.

"Hurry up you two! I still got some laundry to deal with back at home!"

Scarlet and Raven watched as Licorice scuttle away. They both sighed in relief. They looked at each other and chuckled hesitantly.

"Well, then let's go back," Scarlet finally said as she stood up properly and placed her hands on her waists.

Raven smiled and nodded. Scarlet took his hand and they both started running.


	39. Death the Kid's Responsibilities

**A/N:** Hello there! Just wanted to thank Candyrawr13 and Chabeli for the review! Also, I'd like to inform that it's back to me being the writer of the story. No more of Regashi's writing. Her part was just chapter 37 and 38 (with a mix of mine) but judging by Chabeli's review, I guess we really should team up more often. Hehe. (I'll still ask Regashi about that.) –Sitakazukin

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater. Never did and never will! XD

**Chapter 39: Responsibility**

"You and the others did a pretty good job back there, Kid," Lord Death said happily. He was standing in front of his mirror. "I'm glad you're all back safe." His mask already had cracks and his black cloak seemed to be more asymmetrical than before. It made Kid's eyes twitch as he gazed at it while Lord Death spoke to him. He can hardly ignore it.

"Honorable father, you haven't been taking good care of yourself lately, have you?" Kid asked calmly, trying not to sound very concerned. He looked into Lord Death's black orbs with his deadpan eyes.

"Oh, about that… it's no use. Recently, no matter how much I try to take care of myself, I still end up looking like this." He didn't sound too serious. He didn't want Kid to worry. And we all know what happens when he worries a lot. "This is just a sign that you're becoming a strong shinigami already, son, and I'm proud of it."

Instead of smiling, Kid frowned. "Father, I am honored to take your place but seeing you like this as compensation is just disappointing. I don't want you to suffer for me."

"You're being too kind. Don't worry about it, Kiddo." He waved a hand. "I'm fine. Ever since then, I always wanted to see my son finally grow up and replace me. I'm happy to see it happening and you should be happy too. There are things that need to disappear in order for new, greater things to come."

Kid knew that if Lord Death took off his mask, he would see a smile mix of joy and sadness plastered on his face. He finally understood what Lord Death tried to tell him but he could only face down and think about the responsibilities that he will handle in the future. He was sitting on a chair that almost looked like the throne chair back in Wrath's lair.

"I still remember you looking like that before when you were little," Lord Death suddenly said. Kid quickly raised his head and arched an eyebrow at him. "Before, you would come here and tell me the things that bothered you a lot. You have once sat on that same chair, cried… cried for the things that you haven't done perfectly." He placed his large white-gloved hands on Kid's shoulders. Kid stared at him with doe eyes. "Don't push yourself too hard now."

A few seconds later, Kid finally smiled and said, "Thank you, father."

.

.

.

The steps groaned under Raven's weight. He took each step carefully as he let his hand skid on the railings of the stairs. He descended from the ground floor to the basement of Patchwork Lab. Being in Professor Stein's house, especially in his murky basement that smelled kind of funny, he was already thinking of the possibilities of what might be in his basement. He shivered and narrowed his eyes as he imagined one thing –skeletons of endangered animals. But he wasn't actually there for that to find out. He felt watched by something lurking in the dark. He was finally on the floor and he followed the small light he could see that led to a hallway. The hallway was lightened up by a small yellow incandescent bulb hanging at the middle of the ceiling. At the end of the hallway was a wooden door with three bars on the small window.

Kazune's legs were sprawled on the floor, his back rested on the door behind him while his arms lazily rested on his abdomen and on the floor. He kept his head low and eyes shut. He had been like that ever since Stein placed him there last night. He had been given food but he refused to eat it, not even a single bite, and just pushed it aside. He heard footsteps drawing near. His eyes gradually opened and they saw someone's silhouette throw on the wall in front him and on the floor by the dim light. He had the feeling he knew who was there but he didn't make a move. He remained silent on the floor.

Raven dropped on the floor and rested his back on the door as he watched the incandescent lamp.

"What are you doing here?" Kazune asked calmly yet Raven could hear the sting in his voice, like he did not want anyone to visit him.

"I just wanted to tell you that Ren is alright," Raven retorted.

Kazune smiled lopsidedly in the dark. "You actually cared to know?"

Silence.

The blonde heard small ruffling noises. He figured Raven already stood up. And he did.

"Like Ren said, no matter how different we are, there will always be something that will connect us," Raven said with eyes closed. He was about to leave already. "It is an inevitable fact. That's why I'm still concerned for her."

Kazune heard footsteps again. Raven was already leaving. "Raven," he said before Raven could step out into the darkness of the basement.

Raven paused and looked back a little. "What is it?"

"Please tell your sister that I have always loved her."

His eyes widened but then a small smile formed on his face. He closed his eyes and turned around. "Why don't you tell her yourself?"

"I cannot show myself to her anymore. I have failed in protecting her."

Raven was quiet again. Then he finally opened his eyes a little. He continued walking with his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie, leaving a smile on Kazune's face when he said, "Everyone fails."

.

.

.

"How did it go?" Licorice said when Raven flopped on the couch next to her. She was holding a cup of chocolate milk, prepared by Marie.

"Fine," Raven lazily replied, his hand on his face as he faced the ceiling.

She placed her cup on the center table. "You seem tired. What happened in there?"

"We just talked, that's all."

Licorice frowned. "Can't you add more details?"

Raven squinted at her. "He just told me to say something to Ren."

"Well, should we tell her then?"

"No," he said as he averted his eyes away from her.

Licorice raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I want him to be the one to tell her."

She stared at the black-haired half vampire next to him for a while then she finally gave up. She knew he wasn't going to tell everything.

Stein came into the room with a glass of red liquid. Licorice and Raven quickly raised their heads and looked at the glass.

"This is for you," Stein said as he handed the glass to Raven.

Raven held the glass with both of his hands and stared at it. He smelled iron. "What's this?"

Stein sat on the couch next to Licorice. "Kid came early today and asked me to give you that."

Licorice shifted her eyes from Stein to the bottle. "Is that… Kid-sempai's… blood? !"

Stein quietly nodded. Raven's eyes turned half-lidded at the glass. "I didn't even have to ask him," he whispered.

Stein smiled. "He is taking responsibility. We wouldn't want our next ruler to do nothing about you, right?"

"I guess so."

Licorice watched Raven slowly drink the glass of Kid's blood while Stein behind him lit up a cigarette. The last drop finally fell on Raven's tongue. Licorice handed a white folded handkerchief to him.

"Thanks," Raven said as he placed the glass on the table and took the handkerchief from Licorice' hand. He started wiping the sides of his mouth.

"You drank it like you haven't drank water for days," Licorice remarked.

Raven smiled. "I can't help it, especially because it's Kid-sempai's blood. It tastes rather different from humans."

"He smiled," Licorice thought as her she gawked at Raven. "He actually smiled. That's creepy."

"I bet it tastes sweet," she said to Raven then she took a sip from her cup once again.

"How did you know?"

"You like sweets."

.

.

.

_Dear Ayame-san,_

_No words can describe how much I was grateful of you for taking me into your arms despite that as a vampire, you shouldn't have. I knew since then when you knocked me on the floor, there was still a part of you that is still human, that is still merciful. I saw the hesitation in your eyes, those beautiful lime eyes of yours. I always wondered why… why you didn't kill me. Was I an exception? Whatever I was to you, it doesn't really matter. What matters most to me is what you were to me. _

_You've spent a lot of time thinking that the young shinigami was your savior, supposed to be your lover. I understood how you felt because I felt the same for someone… someone who was there for me when my best friend wasn't, someone whose background I vaguely knew about. But strangely enough, that person becomes the person whom I would like to treasure forever. You were that someone… that stranger, Ayame-san. _

_I savor the days I've spent with you. Even though I was still traumatized, still not myself for many days after that day I curse so much because of the embarrassment and injuries I received, I was still aware that you were that person who would sit next to me in the morning, ask how my sleep was and smile at me like the sun that you avoid. My face was always void of emotion yet I was always happy when you would take my hand and lead me to the dining room for us to eat together._

_When I was back to normal, it seemed like you weren't the same anymore. I wondered if you have grown tired of me. I wondered if you really cared for me. But what was I thinking? I was thinking selfishly. Grown tired of me or not, you were still there. Cared or not, I wanted to be the one to take care of you already. _

_My heart died every time you ignored me though, when you replied to me coldly. I wanted the old times back… when it was just you and me. I felt like I was nothing to you already but you… you actually became everything to me. Again, I was really just being selfish. I finally realized that it was just my happiness that I was concerned of. I knew what would make you happy and I knew exactly who. I wanted to be the one who would make you happy, not some symmetry-obsessed reaper. But who am I to criticize? I am just your loyal servant. He was your savior. I understand that you cannot force someone to love you back._

_I'll never regret meeting you. To some people, you might have been a lot of pain but to me… you were a cure. I always found it amazing that you could both act evil and kind. I wouldn't blame you for having your evil side. You went through a lot, did things that you didn't even want to do and fought to be able to live life as a human again no matter what risks it would take. _

_You have inspired me, laudable dana-sama. Such passionate creature like you deserves more happiness in life. And now all I want is for you to be happy in any way. I knew that you were there for people because you knew how it feels to be lonely. Some might have mistaken for you being rude and ruthless but to me, the truth is, behind your harsh exterior is a fragile soul who gets easily hurt and feels emotions deeper than others. I am sad that your own brother, my best friend, betrayed you but you and I knew his decision was right. Nevertheless, he still cares for you. Trust me, he still does. And I believe, deep inside his heart, he's still longing for his sister whom he looked up to for many years. _

_I don't know how long I will stay alive. Death is just around the corner. So I wrote this letter to tell you all the things I wanted to tell you and wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year._

_Your undeserving servant,_

_Kazune Ryou_

_._

_._

_._

Slithering beads of rain sluiced down the window of a private room in Death City's hospital where Ren was staying. A few days ago, she underwent a successful surgery. She was slowly recovering. Sitting on the middle of her bed, white blanket on her lap and legs, she ripped open the small rectangular pink box. Inside the box was a small well-carved and shiny wooden music box with a glass as its lid. She placed it on her palm and pushed open the lid.

A familiar melody started playing. Her eyes widened. A memory flashed in her mind of the time Kazune was playing the same melody on his violin. She was having a hard time sleeping that time so Kazune decided to play for her so she could be able to sleep already. She covered her mouth and let the tears fall as she gently dropped the music box on the bed. It had been a long time since she last heard Kazune play the violin. She always loved it when he played. She felt like her troubles went away whenever he played sad yet beautiful songs but her favorite was the one that was playing on the music box… the one she always wanted him to play… "My Heart Will Go On."

.

.

.

"Raven!" Licorice called through his door. She could hear the bludgeoning screamo song inside his room on his music play. "Hey, Raven, are you in there? Open up, will you? !"

Raven finally opened the door. He looked at Licorice with half-lidded eyes, still holding the door knob.

"I need to tell you something."

"I'm busy so hurry up." He let go of the door knob, turned around and started walking back to his desk.

Licorice stepped in slowly as she closed the door behind her. It was evening already so the fluorescent light on the ceiling was already on. The music in the room pierced her ears. "Is this music or noise? All I could here is just screaming."

Raven was already on his chair, reading a book on his desk. "Don't like it? Step out."

"Sheesh. You're in a bad mood." She sat on the bed, surprised that it wasn't a coffin anymore "What is it this time?"

"What are you talking about? I'm always like this to you," he said without looking back.

"True enough." She stood up and walked over next to Raven. "What are you studying for? It's Christmas vacation."She looked at what Raven was reading.

"Calm down, Lico, it's just classic novel."

Licorice gasped as she placed her hands and chin on Raven's head, making Raven twitch. "You actually read novels? And how the heck can you read with this kind of music in the background?"

Raven closed his eyes. Licorice always annoyed him but still, he's glad that she's there. He roughly closed the book. "That's for you to know and for me to find out." He gave each word an emphasis. He stood up and placed the novel back in his shelf. He turned around to face Licorice with a serious face. "The question is… why didn't you tell us what was about to happen back in the lair? You're a clairvoyant, right? You should have known what was about to happen."

Licorice smiled. "Good question." She sat down on Raven's chair. "Truth is, I really did see what was about to happen but I didn't bother telling you because it wouldn't be fun anymore. Plus, when I get a vision, it's not as clear as you might think it is. Sometimes I have to understand it more. They're just like clues… like blind items."

Raven dropped his eyes on the floor. "I see." He looked at her again. "So what did you came here for again?"

"About that!" She quickly stood up. "Raven, your sister's downstairs!"

Raven dropped accidentally the pen he was holding. He shook his head a bit. "Are you serious?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Well, for one, because you hate me. Two, because you like messing with me…"

"Okay, okay! I get it. You didn't really have to answer. It was a rhetorical question." She grinned as she started walking towards the door. She held the door knob then looked back. "Well, aren't you coming?" She saw him sat down on his chair again.

"She's probably here just to visit Kazune, that's all."

Licorice frowned. "Oh, okay. But I'll come back if she says that she needs to see, alright?"

"Yeah, sure." Licorice finally stepped out of the noisy room and closed the door behind her. She rested on it for a few seconds and sighed.


	40. Peace to Death City Again

**A/N:** Chapter 40… the only chapter that I wrote on paper first, the last chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Soul Eater.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 40: Innocent Souls<strong>

_Earlier that day_

In the morning, Raven was at an abandoned building in Death City. He was asked to do something. It was sunny but good thing Raven was a human already. He spotted the bird. He gripped the handle of his bow and pulled the string with the arrow. He kept his face emotionless as he focused on his target. Finally, he let go of the arrow.

Part 1

The nurses in the hallways flinched when they heard a cry from somewhere. Nygus, who's now working at Death City Hospital, rushed to room 502 and found Ren wincing in pain, clutching the bedsheet and her chest as she arched her back and tightly shut her eyes. Nygus tried to hold her but she only got shoved away by her hand.

"Miss Hiro, we won't be able to treat you if you keep pushing us away," Nygus said calmly, patiently stared at Ren.

"Watashi wa… I… I don't want to be treated by any of you anymore! I want to get out of this place already! I need to see… I need to see…" she opened her eyes a little, "Kazune."

"If we let you out, your condition will worsen. You can visit Ryou-san when you're finally fully recovered already. For now, let us do something with your—"

Ren sat up. "Stop it. Stop pretending like you care. I know you're a nurse who's supposed to take care of me but don't think I'm stupid enough to not know that you're from Shibusen!" She twitched as she felt the pain rushing to her chest again. She clutched her chest, squinted and grunted.

Nygus narrowed her eyes. "My affiliation with Shibusen has nothing to do with my job here. I would further insist you to calm down and let us help you but since you really don't want it then we can't do anything about it. I shall go to the doctor now and inform him about your decision."

Reg glared at Nygus, watched as she left the room. "You better," she whispered bitterly. She unclenched her chest, breathed deeply and rested her head on the rectangular pillow.

_Flashback_

_-_Ren-

I remember the clang of chains on my wrists as I was being dragged to a dark hallway. Creatures whose eyes glowed in red surrounded me yet I was too immersed into my thoughts of my little brother who was probably at the verge of death already that time. I felt that I failed… failed in protecting him. To surrender myself to the vampires was my only option other than demise.

The vampires took me into this huge hall where hundreds of vampires were making tumultuous noise. Everywhere, there were vampires as I gazed around and up. The leader came forward to the pulpit, asked my name and reason why I wanted to join them. I simply replied, "Ayame Hiro. I want to stay alive. I don't want to be killed by any of you. And I still want to see my little brother."

The leader just smiled. "Good answer," he remarked. "Good decision." He gazed around the hall. "Everyone, don't you think this is interesting? A member of the Nakatsukasa Clan is willing to be one of us!"

I was surrounded by annoying laughter that made my eye twitch. At first, I didn't quite understand why they were even laughing. Maybe it was because of the irony but it couldn't have been just that. Eventually, I found out.

The leader finally halted from laughing and spoke again. "I hope you know that if you're going to be one of us, you will be against the world, the people… especially your clan." He grinned while I could only stare at him with a solemn face. I was willing to take risks no matter how painful they will be. "You will no longer indulge yourself to mundane activities that typical people do. You will crave for blood 24/7. You will avoid the sun and the best… you will have to kill… kill your relatives." He smiled.

I closed my eyes, felt the burning sensation in my body. It was the feeling of fear, making me want to fall onto my knees. "Kill my relatives?" I thought. "I have never even killed an ant yet." But I had no other good choice. My choices were to be killed by this multitude of vampires or to be transformed into a bloodthirsty creature… a monster disguised as a human. I mustered the strength left in me. "I understand," I finally said firmly after a few moments of silence as I stared at the leader. He grinned at me once again, that eccentric grin. He snapped his finger.

My eyes widened when it became completely quiet in the large hall. Later, the place began to darken. I felt heavy arms around me. Its huge hands clutched my neck and shoulder. I felt the excruciating sting when he sank his two sharp teeth into my skin. I heard the fluttering of wings of a huge number of bats as they flew outside. I screamed… screamed until I felt my throat dry. Afterwards, all I saw was just darkness already.

_Flashback End_

* * *

><p>Part 2<p>

Soul was holding a glass of orange juice he took out from the fridge. He went to the living room and found Maka hugging her legs on the couch. It seemed that she was in deep thought. He sat next to her. "You okay?" he said in his usual nonchalant voice.

Maka nodded. "I was just thinking of what happened back in Wrath's lair."

"Traumatized?"

Maka didn't nod nor said anything yet. After fifteen seconds of silence, she finally spoke. "I thought we were going to die in there. I never felt so weak. If I had enough strength, I would have atleast given that jerk a Maka Chop."

Soul smiled. "But he's dead now so stop thinking about it. There are times that we completely feel weak." He rested his hands behind his head and squinted at her. "You've always been so damn strong. Don't you think it's nice to feel weak sometimes?"

Maka glared. "Don't tell me you enjoyed watching me being tortured back there despite that you were screaming in rage."

"Wha-?"

"Nice one, Soul. You should really join the drama club.

"What are you smoking? It wasn't acting! It was…" he looked away, "genuine."

Maka looked away. "Yeah, sure," she said sarcastically.

"And by the way, I absolutely did _not _enjoy watching you being tortured. What do you think of me, a sadist? Come on, Maka, we've been living together for like four years already. You know me better than that."

Maka smiled. "I know." She stood up and clasped her hands on her back. "I was just fooling around."

Soul raised an eyebrow as he sneered. "Huh?"

"Once again… thank you for saving me." She scratched her temple. Soul only averted his eyes away from her. "Well, I'm off to sleep now."

"Sure. Goodnight." He closed his eyes as he listened to Maka's footsteps. They stopped near him. "Hmm?" he uttered. Suddenly, he felt Maka's soft lips on his cheek for a few seconds, making his eyes go wide. He heard her say goodnight as she turned around and continued to walking. He placed his hand on the side of his face where Maka planted her goodnight kiss. His eyes dropped to the floor as he faced down and smiled.

* * *

><p>Part 3<p>

Tsubaki was at their balcony of their apartment, gazing at the sky and pressing her mobile phone to her ear. "Father?"

"Ah, Tsubaki, dear. How are you? Your mother and I missed you."

A smile flashed on Tsubaki's face. "I miss you guys too. I'm alright. Recently, we just finished a hard mission. Father, I already found Ayame and Daisuke.

"R-really? ! That's great! Tell me, my dear, how are they doing?"

"Before I answer that, I'd like to tell you that Ayame is Ren and Daisuke is Raven Hiro after all. As you said, they really changed their names, as a starter in forgetting their past. It turns out that Ren was one the vampires who attacked the Nakatsukasa Clan. While Raven… he also became a vampire but only half, unlike Ren. Currently, Ren is in Death City Hospital."

"What happened?"

"She was our enemy, father. Like the others say, she got what she deserves. That's all. I'll explain everything next time. For now, don't worry. Ren will be alright."

"I wouldn't be too sure if I were you," Black Star said from the back. Tsubaki turned around and found him resting his back on the wall, his hands folded in front of his chest. "Sid-sensei called me and told me that Ren went out of the hospital even though she's not fully recovered yet. She's currently suffering but she wouldn't listen to the nurses."

Sid Barret had been a father figure to Black Star since he was little. In fact, he was the one who took him in despite that he was a member of the Star Clan. That's why he seems to be closer to him than other students.

Tsubaki nodded at Black Star. She put the phone to her ear again. "On second thought, she might not recover after all, father. I'll call you again later. There's an emergency here. Goodbye."

* * *

><p>Part 4<p>

Professor Stein was dissecting the endangered bird that escaped from him during their class. It was when he left the room with Tsubaki and Maka to see Soul, Black Star and Kid fight. It was a long time ago. It so happened today that Raven caught it when he was at the abandoned old building that looked like it was in ruins already. In his dark room, Stein was wearing his usual white lab coat and glasses. He heard someone knocking at the front door.

"Marie!" he called. "Someone is at the door." Apparently, Marie was taking a hot bath upstairs, humming her favorite songs. Stein sighed and gave up. He was about to stand up.

"I'll get it, Professor!" Licorice shouted cheerfully as she ran pass Stein's door.

"Wait, Licorice!" he shouted as he stood up.

She was already gone.

He shrugged then sat on his chair again and continued to dissect.

"I wonder who it could be at a time like this," Licorice thought. She opened the door and found Licorice, panting, holding the wall and her chest. Her left eye glared at Licorice while her right eye was covered by her bangs. She was soaked from the rain. Licorice stepped back, shocked. "Ren," she whispered.

"Where's Kazune?" Ren asked coldly.

Stein stood behind Licorice and glanced at Ren's bloody chest. His eyes narrowed. "He's in the basement." He stepped aside, giving a way to Ren. She rushed inside. "Just keep straight, turn left and you'll find the door for the basement."

Licorice gazed up at Stein with a quizzical look. "Professor, are you seriously just going to let those two be together? Who knows what they could do!"

Stein looked down at Licorice and smiled. "Don't worry. In their currently condition, I don't think they won't do anything too dangerous."

Licorice looked away. "Well… Ren did look like she was about to faint and Kazune… he hasn't even eaten for days already."

"Exactly." He turned around. "I'll go back to my lab now. Please tell Raven that his sister is here."

"Yes, sir."

_At the Basement_

Kazune's body was resting against a wall. He was curled up in a corner. He slowly opened his tired eyes and lifted his head a bit. Soon he heard the wooden door creak as it flung open, letting the yellow light from the hallway outside enter. He raised his head.

Surprisingly, Ren kicked the door but she fell with it. She started coughing as smoke clouded up around her.

"Dana-sama? !" He stood up and ran toward Ren, held her in his arms. "What are you…" he rotated her body. His eyes widened. "Blood," he whispered. "You're bleeding…! Who-who did this? I thought you were recovering already! Raven told me!" He pulled her into a tight hug.

Ren rested her head on Kazune's shoulder, savoring his warmth. "I am… I'm alright… Kazune. But let's face it. I won't live longer now. I deserve this. I deserve to die."

"Don't say that! In fact, don't say anything. Stay strong, master. You're not supposed to give up!"

"Fool. Don't you order me around," she said with a smile. She coughed. "Listen," she whispered. She placed her hands on Kazune's chest and pushed herself away. She smiled at him and rested her head on his thigh. "I have decided…" she held Kazune's face with one hand. "If I was to die, I'd rather die in your arms."

Kazune couldn't return the smile. She stared into her eyes in shock. A tear actually slipped down the right side of his face and it glistened as the light from the incandescent lamp outside reflected on it. Ren wiped it away with the pad of her thumb. "No…" he whispered. "Don't leave me." He narrowed his eyes, tears gathering in them. "Ren… please."

Ren gradually closed her eyes. "I love you," she whispered her last words.

Kazune held her hand that was still on his face and felt it lack of strength already. He closed his hands and finally relinquished his tears as he kissed her hand. It was too painful for him to speak already.

* * *

><p><em>Back to Present<em>

Part 5

After Licorice left Raven's room, his phone on his study table started ringing. He lazily picked it up.

"Raven, it's Scarlet. I heard your sister went out the hospital even though her wound was badly aching!"

"What?" He gasped as he stood up abruptly from his chair. "Hang on, Scarlet. Ren is actually here at our house." He opened the door and started running in the corridor, leaving his music player on in his room.

"Have you seen her already?"

Raven was still holding his phone against his ear as he ran. "Not yet but I'm about to." He hurried down the stairs. He ran pass Marie who was still in her towel.

"Ray, where are you—" Marie started.

"Basement," Raven retorted then he disappeared from Marie's sight. Marie shrugged and continued to walk upstairs. He finally reached the door to the basement. To his surprise, it was already open. "Almost there," he thought. He rushed down the basement's stair even though it was dim. All he could think of was Ren.

"Raven, are you still there?"

Raven stepped into the half bright hallway as he picked up his phone from his shorts' pocket. "Yeah, I'm still…" he dropped the phone to the floor when he saw the prison cell's door was knocked out, Kazune and Ren on the floor near it. Licorice was standing outside, covering her mouth. "Ren," he whispered. Licorice placed a hand on Raven's shoulder, but Raven kept moving forward, letting Licorice' arm fall back to her side. Raven faltered towards Kazune, his eyes widening at the sight of Ren's seemingly lifeless body. He fell to his knees at Ren's side. He held her wrist and felt no pulse. He gazed at the ceiling, closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "God…" he whispered peacefully.

* * *

><p>Part 6<p>

Harvart knocked.

"Come in," he heard Ox say. He let himself in.

"We'll be having dinner downstairs already," he said to Ox who was sitting on his bed, holding his phone.

"The villains got what they deserve," Ox suddenly said, still looking at his phone.

"What's this all of a sudden?"

Ox gazed at his hands. "These hands… they were instruments in killing Wrath." Harvard took the phone from Ox' hand and read the new text from Black Star.

"Ugh."

"You see what I mean?"

He gave his phone back. "Let's just discuss this with Kilik and the others downstairs." He started walking towards the door followed by Ox

* * *

><p><strong>Guilty<strong>

Part 7

_At the Town Square_

Scarlet glided her fingers on the frozen water in the fountain's basin. Licorice stood behind her, eating a bar of chocolate.

"Say, Lico, do you think I should be imprisoned?" Scarlet asked without looking at Licorice.

"Huh? For what?"

"I killed… Ren-san. Would you consider it as a crime?"

"Yes but Ren-san… she was out of her mind for making a deal with that bastard Noah!"

Scarlet's eyes narrowed. "Maybe… but she might have done it just so she can turn herself and Raven back to normal."

"Still, she through blondie nearly killed us all." She sat next to Scarlet. "She broke Kid and Crona's relationship!"

"Speaking of Kid-sempai, I keep remembering his words. 'If you shoot, you won't be any different from the person who killed your parents.' I feel guilty, Lico. That time… I really didn't know what to do. The only thing I was sure about was that I mustn't kill Raven. I had a reason to but something kept stopping me. It was my first time to use a weapon other than Raven. I thought if I had to shoot anyone… I realized it would be Ren-san." She covered one of her eyes and stared at her reflection on the ice. "But why exactly didn't I choose Raven… when it's Raven's fault that I lost my parents?"

Licorice smiled. "It's funny that you and Raven have the same question. I, too, don't know but I do believe that I didn't just give Raven a second chance. Master, I was about to kill him in his sleep when I realized he wasn't actually that bad. So I gave him goals that he needed to fulfill so that I'll be rest assured that it was worth keeping him alive." She chuckled. "I'm not sure if Raven was being submissive to me… or if he was just tired of his boring life. But I realized there might be another reason.

"What reason?"

"His obedience to me might have been fear of death, boredom or… maybe he just really wanted to atone for his sins, to compensate… to gain your forgiveness. He never killed intentionally. If he was human, he wouldn't do such thing. That's what I believe." She faced down and smiled. "So if I were you, I would have done the same. I wouldn't shoot Raven… because he's just an innocent soul who was lost."

Scarlet smiled. "I see what you mean now."

* * *

><p>Part 8<p>

In the midst of a dark room in Shibusen, the Book of Eibon was placed on a small round table with a thick transparent glass encompassing. It has a curve at the bottom, sort of like the glass that covered the rose that was losing its petals in Sleeping Beauty. The surface of the table was glowing in light blue so it wasn't completely murky in the room. Around the table were Soul, Maka, Kid, Liz, Patty, Black Star, Crona and Ragnarok, standing in front of it quietly, gazing at it for what seem like hours already. One of them ruined the silence that was only broken by small noises –sound of their breaths.

"Never will this book be open again," Kid calmly said, still gazing at the thing in front of them all.

Black Star shifted his glance to Kid. "If that's the case then shouldn't we just burn it?"

Kid closed his eyes, his eyebrows pushing down. "We can't."

"Don't tell us it's because of what happened to you and Crona in there," Soul teased with a smirk.

Kid and Crona's cheeks flushed in red as they gazed at Soul.

"H-happened?" Crona asked nervously while Kid shouted, "It's not that!" simultaneously, still having a blush on his face.

"Then what?" Black Star asked demandingly.

"This shall serve as a reminder of one of the greatest missions that we have accomplished."

A smile formed on everyone's face, even Ragnarok.

"I have got to admit… I did enjoy kicking those soldier's butts," Black Star said then burst into laughter. Everyone stared at him for a while then they too began to laugh as they remembered the fun they had despite that they could have died already. "Say, who wants to have some ice cream at Deathbucks? My treat." He grinned.

"Me!" Patty shouted in joy while the rest just raised a hand and smiled.

"Sounds cool," said Soul.

Everyone was on their way to the exit… except Crona.

"Hmm?" Kid uttered as he looked back and saw Crona still gazing at the book. He walked towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Crona flinched, as if she got pulled back to reality. She quickly shook her head to the sides. "I just… remembered the creatures that I created in that book," she quietly said.

Kid smiled. "You're probably sad that they had to disappear when you woke up."

Crona's eyes widened. It was like Kid was reading her mind.

Kid closed his eyes and turned around. "Don't worry. I met one of the creatures you created. He told me that he was thankful to you for creating him. He was glad to live even just for a short moment."

"But Kid… they weren't actually _just _my imaginations."

Kid opened his eyes. He glanced at Crona quizzically. She was still gazing at the book. "What do you mean?"

Crona's eyes narrowed. "They were souls that were aborted in the real world."

Kid felt his heart sank and he became speechless for a brief moment. "Aborted?" he said in his mind. "Ferro… I wonder how you felt when you found out that you were aborted." He could still remember Ferro's face when he smiled saying how he was grateful to Crona.

"I… I have always wished to never have been born but when I found out that those creatures that I created actually had the souls of the humans who were aborted in the real world… I felt guilty. They were innocent souls who have been killed… who haven't got the chance to live outside their mother's womb… while I… I didn't even wish to live anymore." She closed her eyes as tears began to slide down her face. Later she felt protective warm arms around her.

"Hearing that makes me feel guilty too," Kid whispered in her ear. He smiled. "I always wished to die to whenever I did something wrong. And I really meant it. But I realized… life goes on without us… so if we quit, we'll miss out a lot of things. We'll be inadequate. Atleast you learned something from the Book of Eibon, right?"

Crona sniffed as she nodded gently and held Kid's arm.

"Come on. The others are probably waiting." He held her hand and he led them out of the room as Crona wiped her tear from her eye with her index finger. She glanced at Kid who walked in front of her, like a person who was guiding a lost child. She could sense that Kid was blushing since he kept looking away from her. As he gripped her hand even more, she smiled… smiled to be able to be with him again… the one who lifts her up and strengthens her other than her bestfriend, Maka.

"I wonder if we really should burn it."

* * *

><p>Part 9<p>

Raven stared down at his sister's grave. He had been in the cemetery for almost thirty minutes already. The sky was already turning gray. No doubt it was going to rain. Tsubaki wrapped her arms around Raven.

"I should have been the one buried there," he said nonchalantly, trying to hide the sadness that he feels.

"Like you said… everyone fails."

Raven looked to the side, surprised to see Kazune, starting down at the grave also, his hands in his jeans' pockets.

"That's right, Raven. You should have been the one buried in there." He smiled. "But that would make Ren sad too if she was the one alive right now." He faced Raven. "I'll be honest with you. I did really forget who you were to me because of the trauma that I had. Ren have told me that you were my bestfriend. It sounded just like a title… because I couldn't remember the feelings anymore. Thanks to Professor Stein, I'm ninety percent back to normal, but of course… the feelings for your sister was real."

Raven smiled. "It's good to have you back, Kazune." He and Kazune had a brofist.

"If you two are interested, we can turn Ren into a zombie," Stein said. He was standing against a tree.

The two boys flinched in surprise. "H-how, when did you got here? !" they said in unison.

"Oh, I was on my way back home but I decided to stop here for a while."

"We didn't even notice your arrival."

"Zombie Ren, eh?" Kazune tried to think as he rubbed his chin.

"You're actually interested?" said Raven, giving Kazune a weird glance.

Kazune grinned. "Why not?"

"Hey, you two," Tsubaki said. "The others said they'll be in Deathbucks. Would you like catch up with them?"

"Sure."

"You guys go ahead," said Raven as he smiled. Tsubaki, Kazune and Stein were already on their way to the cemetery's gates. Raven bent down and placed a single crimson rose on Ren's grave.

The next morning, Kid was going to visit his mom but he remembered that Ren's grave was also around. So he began searching around the cemetery. He found the rose still on top of Ren's grave.

He read the tombstone, "In memory of Ayame 'Ren' Hiro, November 13, 1994 – December 23, 2011." He picked up the rose and smelled it. "Crimson Rose," he whispered then turned around. "Don't you think that's a nice name, Crona?" he smiled at the pinkette in a black cocktail dress. She smiled back and nodded.

Crimson.

The name reverberated in his mind as well as the memory of the dream he had before, his dream of Crimson, his future daughter.

**The End**

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I tried to keep the words simple. Anyway… yahoo! HWB is finally done. Took me freaking 8 months! Five, if I didn't put this on hiatus for 3 months. XD Thank you so much to all who read this story! I salute you for reaching the last chapter. Thanks for being with me til the end. About the comic, if ever I make it (oh, I will, just give me time, lot and lots of time), I'll definitely make changes! I mean, there might be additional or… excluded scenes but I'll try my best to follow the original story. Now I shall work on… Death Household! Check it out if you want.

Songs that inspired me in writing this (listen to them, please?):

You'll Always Be Mine by Phath

Painting Flowers by All Time Low

Room of Angel (Silent Hill)

A Thousand Years by Christina Perri

Terrified by Katherine McPhee

My Immortal by Evanescene

You Found Me by The Fray

Who I Am Hates Who I've Been by Relient K

Rush Together by Quietdrive

Crawling by Linking Park

The Glory of Love by New Found Glory

Save You by Simple Plan

Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Stranger & Something More by Secondhand Serenade

Dirty Little Secrets by The All American Rejects

Sweet and Low by Augustana

And my all time fave! Next To You by Chris Brown ft. JB


End file.
